The French government imposed a fine of 250 million euros (approximately $273 million) on Google on the 20th (local time). The penalty was issued because Google did not comply with the agreement about receiving news from media companies.
According to AFP, French regulatory authorities imposed a fine, claiming that Google violated a promise to pay news companies when duplicating content online or using news for artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot learning. These promises were made after French media sued Google to the regulatory agency in 2019, leading to an agreement in 2022.
However, according to the regulatory authorities, Google did not comply with four of the seven agreements made in 2022 and did not negotiate “in good faith” with news publishers, resulting in this new fine. Google also received a fine of 500 million euros (approximately $546 million) from the French government in 2021.
Google should have proposed payment to the relevant media within three months of receiving a copyright infringement report and notified training institutions or authorities when trying to train AI chatbots with media content, but it has yet to do so.
Google expressed dissatisfaction in a statement: “The fine is not appropriate, and the efforts we have made to respond to and resolve the concerns raised have not been adequately considered.”