A
“dissuasive”
fine
must be pronounced against Google for not having respected the injunction which was made to it in April to negotiate
“in good faith”
with the editors and press agencies under the title of the
“neighboring right”
, recommends a internal report of the Competition Authority, according to sources having access to this document.
Read also: Neighboring rights: Google signs with the press
"It appears necessary (...) to order Google to comply under penalty with the injunctions provided for by the decision within an extremely short period of time to ensure effective execution"
, conclude the investigation services of the Authority, according to these sources having read the report sent earlier this week to the parties.
The rapporteurs consider the shortcomings to be
"quite exceptional"
, added these sources.
The college of the Authority must now decide on a possible financial penalty and set the amount.
The report recommends a sanction
"dissuasive for the future"
with a penalty
"sufficiently dissuasive for a company such as Google"
, specified these same sources.
The maximum fine that the Competition Authority can set in the case of a company is 10% of the amount of worldwide turnover excluding taxes, or 16 billion euros for Google.
“Our priority is to be in compliance with the law, and to continue to negotiate in good faith with newspaper publishers, as evidenced by the agreements we have reached with many of them in recent months. We are now going to take note of the statement of objections, and will work closely with the Competition Authority, ”
responded a Google spokesperson.
AFP management, which is one of the press organizations to seize the authority, did not comment.
The Syndicate of Magazine Press Editors (SEPM) did not wish to react.
Agreement in France
The French press accused Google at the end of 2019 of flouting neighboring rights, this right similar to copyright, created by a European directive and supposed to lead to a better sharing of digital revenues for the benefit of newspaper publishers and press agencies. .
This new right barely entered into force in France, Google had decided unilaterally to index less well the newspapers which would refuse to let it continue to exploit their contents (titles, extracts of articles and thumbnails) for free in its search results.
The French press, having little choice, had complied but immediately seizing the Competition Authority, which in April 2020 had ordered Google to negotiate
"in good faith"
with publishers, a decision then confirmed by the Court call from Paris.
In mid-January, the General Information Press Alliance (Apig, which represents in particular national and regional dailies) and Google announced an agreement that paves the way for newspaper remuneration, which had been welcomed by the Authority. competition.
The amount of this windfall had not been specified, the financial data of the agreement being confidential.
It will be set individually, according to criteria such as
"the contribution to political and general information, the daily volume of publications or even the monthly internet audience",
the two parties had specified.
Facebook vs. Australia
Beyond France, several countries are trying to make the major platforms, including Google and Facebook, which dominate the global advertising market, pay for their use of press content.
The Australian Parliament finally adopted this Thursday a first legislation of this type, but had to agree to compromise on the points which were fiercely opposed to the behemoths which dominate the internet.
Read also: Facebook signs peace with Australia
The first legislation of this type, to the point of attracting the attention of governments around the world, it was adopted a few days after agreements directly concluded between Facebook, Google and various Australian media.