PARIS - French media said on Thursday they would drag Google before the country's competition regulator over its refusal to pay news companies for displaying their content in defiance of a strict new European Union copyright law.
France in July became the first country to ratify a new EU copyright law which was passed this year and comes into force on Thursday to ensure publishers are compensated when their work is displayed online. If they refuse, only a headline and a bare link to the content will appear, Google said, almost certainly resulting in a loss of visibility and potential ad revenue for the publisher.
'UNTENABLE' On Wednesday, about 800 journalists, photographers, film-makers and media CEOs signed an open letter published in newspapers across Europe urging governments to ensure that Google and other tech firms comply with the new EU rule."The existing situation, in which Google enjoys most of the advertising revenue generated by the news that it rakes in without any payment, is untenable and has plunged the media into a crisis that is deepening each year," it said.