French watchdog imposes a €250 million fine on Google amid dispute with news publishers
France’s competition regulator hit Google on Wednesday with a new €250 million fine tied to a long-running dispute over payments to French publishers for their news. The regulator said in a statement that it had issued the penalty because the tech giant had failed to meet certain commitments made in June 2022 “aimed at creating the conditions for balanced negotiations between publishers, press agencies and digital platforms”. The companies involved are parent company Alphabet Inc, Google LLC, Google Ireland Ltd, and Google France. One of the elements retained by the regulator is the use by Goo...