Google fined $592 million over dispute with French publishers

France’s competition regulator announced on July 13 that it has fined US giant Google 500 million euros ($592 million) over a dispute with French publishers who want the company to pay for the use of their news.

The agency threatened to fine another 900,000 euros (around $1 million) per day if Google doesn’t submit proposals within two months on how it will compensate news agencies and other publishers.

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Google France said in a statement that it was very disappointed by the decision, and that the fine doesn’t reflect the efforts put in place by them or the reality of the use of news content on their platform. It said it is negotiating in good faith towards a solution, and on the verge of reaching an agreement with some publishers.

The dispute is part of a larger effort by the European Union to force Google and other tech companies to compensate publishers for content.

The French antitrust agency had issued temporary orders to Google earlier this year to hold talks within three months with news publishers and fined the company on Tuesday for breaching those orders.

Google has been repeatedly targeted by French and European Union antitrust authorities for various business activities seen as abusing its market dominance.