French competition watchdog fines Google 250 million euros

France's competition watchdog said Google trained its AI-powered chatbot Bard - now renamed Gemini - on content from publishers and news outlets without informing them.

France fines Google 250 million euros for copyright infringement and self-supporting photo 1 — Google is accused of violating four of the seven commitments it made by 2022 as part of a deal with French publishers - Photo: Reuters

According to the regulator, Google has violated four of the seven commitments it made by 2022 as part of an agreement with publishers to negotiate fairly with news organizations.

The French regulator added that Google had failed to provide news organizations with measures to prevent their content from being used, which "impeded" the ability of news organizations to negotiate remuneration.

Google called Wednesday’s fine “disproportionate” and said the French competition watchdog did not adequately take into account the tech giant’s efforts “in an environment where it is difficult to set a course because we cannot predict which way the wind will blow next.” However, Google said it accepted the settlement because “it is time to move on.”

The fine was handed down by the French regulator as many publishers, writers and journalists seek to limit the use of AI services to automatically collect their content without their consent for fair compensation.

France is not the only EU country to declare war on Google over news content.

Spain's competition watchdog last year launched an investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices affecting news agencies and press publications.

In 2022, Germany's antitrust regulator halted its investigation into Google's News Showcase service, after the tech giant made "significant adjustments" to alleviate competition concerns.

In 2023, the US newspaper The New York Times sued Google rivals Microsoft and OpenAI, the company that created the popular artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT, accusing them of using millions of New York Times articles without permission to help train chatbots.

Quang Anh (according to DW, Reuters)

Source