Google Pays French Media

Google’s Alphabet has reached an agreement with a group of 121 French media companies and has agreed to pay a total of 76 million euros over the next three years to offer news, according to documents in the hands of Reuters. The deal has ended years of dispute. The deal has been widely criticized.

 

Google and the French News Media

The fact that there is a business agreement between Google and the French news media trade association APIG had been previously announced, but no financial details had yet been provided.

Many French media companies are angry about the deal with Google. They think the deal is unfair and not transparent. The French news agency AFP and other French news media who are not affiliated with the 121 media companies, among others, are already preparing further measures against Google.

The agreement between Google and the French media states payment of 22 million euros per year to the collective of these media companies, for three years.

Besides, Google will pay the companies a total of EUR 10 million in exchange for their promise not to sue Google for any copyright violations in the next three years.

The agreement between Google and the APIG stems from a European copyright law that the French government has already implemented. That law requires major tech platforms to negotiate with media companies about fees for news copying.

 

Google reached agreement with a group of 121 French media companies and has agreed to pay a total of 76 million euros over the next 3 years. Thailand Event Guide

Google reached an agreement with a group of 121 French media companies and has agreed to pay a total of 76 million euros over the next 3 years.

Australian Government – Play for Pay

Australia also wants the tech giants to pay. Media companies in other countries are looking with interest on how the deal in France, a worldwide first will conclude.

In Australia, a bill will be sent to parliament next week. Companies such as Google and Facebook would be obliged by that law to pay media companies money for the use of news.

The argument between the Australian government and Google over the bill recently got so heated that Google threatened to shut down the search engine for use from Australia.

Google sees the bill as “unworkable”. Media companies in Germany and Spain previously tried to get Google to pay for content but were unsuccessful as well as German media representatives who lost a lawsuit against Google in 2019 in which they demanded 1 billion euros in copyright costs from 2013.