TL;DR France has fined Google the equivalent of $590 million for allegedly failing to negotiate deals with news publishers in ‘good faith.’ Google has two months to propose compensation for news content. Android Central noted that Google has agreed to pay a €500 million fine (about $590 million) after France’s competition regulator (Autorité de la concurrence) determined the search giant hadn’t negotiated news content deals “in good faith” with publishers. It pressed companies to negotiate deals for the News Showcase (which repackages stories as elaborate presentations) while giving up income from search. The French fine is the latest in a long string of legal trouble for Google. Google might not have choice but to rethink much of its behavior if it wants to avoid more legal repercussions.
