France's antitrust watchdog slapped a €500m fine on Alphabet's Google on Tuesday for failing to comply fully with temporary orders the regulator had given in a row with the country's news publishers. If it does not do that, the company would face additional fines of up to €900,000 per day. The fine ignores our efforts to reach an agreement, and the reality of how news works on our platforms," a Google spokesperson said. "To date, Google is the only company to have announced agreements on neighbouring rights." The case itself focused on whether Google breached temporary orders issued by the antitrust authority, which demanded such talks take place within three months with any news publishers that ask for them.

Source: Irish Independent July 13, 2021 08:03 UTC