French anti-trust body accepts Google pledges over remunerating news publishers

[June 21, 2022]  PARIS (Reuters) - The French antitrust authority said on Tuesday it had accepted a series of commitments made by Alphabet's Google over a copyright law aimed at remunerating news publishers for the use of content online.

A 3D printed Google logo is seen in this illustration taken April 12, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

The authority also said a 500-million euro fine it had imposed on Google last year was now definitive, as the U.S. online giant had dropped an appeal against it. Google paid the fine last year.

The decisions bring to an end the authority's investigation against Google, which has accepted to hold talks with news agencies and other publishers to pay for the use of their news.

The ruling comes amid increasing international pressure on online platforms such as Google and Facebook to share more revenue with news outlets.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon and Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Silvia Aloisi)

[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.