Google’s $76 million deal with French publishers leaves many outlets infuriated
Alphabet’s Google has agreed to pay $76 million (roughly Rs. 552 crores) over three years to a group of 121 French news publishers to end a more than year-long copyright spat, documents seen by Reuters show.
The agreement between Google and the Alliance de la presse d’information generale (APIG), a lobby group representing most major French publishers, was announced previously, but financial terms had not been disclosed.
The move infuriated many other French outlets, which deemed it unfair and opaque. Publishers in other countries will scrutinize the French agreement, the highest-profile in the world under Google’s new program to provide compensation for news snippets used in search results.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) and other French news providers that do not belong to the group are not part of the agreement and are pressing forward with various actions against Google.
The accord follows France’s implementation of the first copyright rule enacted under a recent Europe Union law that creates “neighbouring rights,” requiring large tech platforms to open talks with publishers seeking remuneration for use of news content.
