The French competition gendarme made public on Tuesday July 13 a very important decision for the future of neighboring rights, this remuneration that Google and digital platforms are supposed to put in place for press publishers in remuneration for the resumption of their content.
The Competition Authority will say whether Google has respected its injunction last year to negotiate
"in good faith"
with press editors on the establishment of these neighboring rights.
If it considers that Google has not respected its obligations, as the press editors and AFP, stakeholder in the case believe, it could impose a fine on the American search engine.
Read also: Neighboring rights: Google signs with the press
An internal report to the Authority, prepared by its investigation services, seemed to prove the publishers right this winter, recommending a
“dissuasive”
fine
against Google in this case. The Authority's decision - and the way in which it is justified - will be closely observed in France and beyond the borders, because it will be the first decision of a regulatory authority on neighboring rights, a European legislation put in place in 2019 and which France was the first to transpose.
The conflict between Google and French press publishers affects the rights that Google must pay for press content - extracts from articles, photos, videos, infographics, etc. - which appear in the results pages when searching for the Internet user.
Google, hostile to the principle of these
“rights related to copyright”
, first tried to force publishers to grant it the right to use this content free of charge.
The search engine felt that publishers were paid quite enough for the traffic it sent to their sites.
Change of posture
Faced with Google's refusal to negotiate a remuneration, the press editors - Syndicate of press editors of the magazine press, Alliance of the general information press, AFP - seized the Competition Authority at the end of 2019 for
" abuse of a dominant position ”
. In April 2020, the Authority imposed
“emergency measures”
on Google, ie an obligation to negotiate
remuneration
“in good faith”
with press editors. It is on compliance with this obligation to negotiate in
"good faith"
that the Competition Authority will rule on Tuesday, with long-awaited considerations on the validity of what Google has proposed to press editors.
Read also: Google will invest a billion dollars in the press around the world
Because the American giant has changed its posture since the start of the affair and no longer displays radical hostility to neighboring rights.
In mid-January 2021, the General Information Press Alliance (Apig, which represents in particular national and regional dailies) and Google announced a framework agreement that paves the way for newspaper remuneration.
However, this agreement remains a framework agreement which concerns only part of the press publishers and leaves other categories of publishers on the sidelines.
This is the case, for example, of the magazine press represented by the SEPM (union of magazine press editors) and press agencies, including AFP.
As expected as it may be, the decision of the Competition Authority will not decide on the merits the question of whether or not Google's dominant position has been abused. This question will be the subject of another decision, which could take place before the end of 2021, according to the president of the Authority, Isabelle De Silva. The decisions of the French Competition Authority are all the more followed as they can have a global influence. On June 7, a decision by the French gendarme in another area, online advertising - with a fine of 220 million euros - led Google to reform a number of its practices on a global scale.
