The antitrust regulator of France has fined Google Corporation for €500 million for failure to comply with court orders
The French regulator’s website notes that the company has been fined for “failing to comply with several court orders issued in April 2020”. According to Agence France-Presse, the fine was issued for “the corporation did not properly negotiate with press publishers about the application of related rights, about rewarding editors for the use of their content”.
“When the regulator makes injunctions against companies, they should be scrupulously enforced. In this case, that did not happen”, – said Isabelle de Silva, head of France’s competition authority.
In April 2020, the European Union approved a directive that strengthened enforcement of copyright law when works are posted online. It also extends the rights of media publishers by allowing them to receive remuneration when their material is used by online platforms.