In a court decision that could have international implications, a French appeals court has ruled that Google must open talk with publishers in France about paying to use their content, Reuters reports.
“It’s a world first for such a case,” France’s antitrust chief Isabelle de Silva told Reuters, adding that the French court had essentially validated an earlier decision by the competition authority.
“Google’s conduct amounted to saying: I’m offering you a contract under which you give me all your rights for no remuneration,” de Silva said, with reference to the business relationship between news publishers and Alphabet’s Google.
In the wake of the decision, France and the Netherlands have called for the creation of a European Union authority to regulate large tech companies such as Google and Facebook.
