Controversies

Source excerpt

• The court official added that on considering the second protocol, the company was fined another 1.5 million rubles ($20,405).

• "Google was found guilty of committing an administrative offense under Part 2 of Art. 13.41 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. The company was sentenced to an administrative fine of four million rubles under the first protocol and 1.5 million rubles under the second similar protocol," the court’s official said.

Source excerpt

• A magistrate judge on Thursday fined U.S. company Google 3 million rubles (over $40,000) for refusal to locate personal data of Russian users in the Russian Federation, the Moscow Tagansky District Court’s press service told RAPSI.

• Moscow's Tagansky district court on Thursday found Google guilty of breaching data localisation laws and fined the company 3 million rubles ($41,000), a court spokeswoman told state news agency RIA Novosti.

• A magistrate judge on Wednesday fined Google LLC 6.5 million rubles ($90,000) for two cases of violating the order of the restriction of access to information

Company response

• Clarification — Google

  对此，谷歌在一份声明中表示：“我们欢迎这次对话，并正与消费者保护机构和欧盟委员会密切合作，看看我们如何能做出有利于用户的改进，并提供更高的透明度。”

Source excerpt

• 对此，谷歌在一份声明中表示：“我们欢迎这次对话，并正与消费者保护机构和欧盟委员会密切合作，看看我们如何能做出有利于用户的改进，并提供更高的透明度。”

• 欧盟委员会和欧盟消费者当局今日表示， 谷歌要在两2个月的时间内，对其航班和酒店搜索服务进行调整，并解释如何对搜索结果进行排名，否则将面临制裁。

Company response

• Clarification — Google

  Google said it was very disappointed with the decision but would comply.

Source excerpt

• News publishers APIG, SEPM and AFP accuse the tech company of having failed to hold talks in good faith with them to find common ground for the remuneration of news content online, under a recent EU directive that creates so-called "neighbouring rights".

• France's antitrust watchdog has fined Google €500m (£428m)

• Google said it was very disappointed with the decision but would comply.

Source excerpt

• The basis for the latest fine is that the company failed to obey the instructions given by the news editors and publishers of the country.

• Google has been accused by some of the big names of news publishing companies including, SEPM , APIG and AFP.

• Tech giant Google is once again in the hot water in France and has been fined with $592.75 million.

Company response

• Clarification — Google France

  Google France said in a statement it was “very disappointed” by the decision, and that the fine “doesn’t reflect the efforts put in place or the reality of the use of news content on our platform.” It said it is negotiating in good faith toward a solution

Source excerpt

• The antitrust ruling of fining Google in France follows almost a 7-month period in which the search giant was supposed to reach an agreement with local publishers to use snippets of their content on Google News. The fine is €500 million and is in line with the latest EU regulations.

• Unfortunately, Google didn't offer a fair deal and couldn't agree with Agence France-Presse and other publishers on a payment framework.

• Google France said in a statement it was “very disappointed” by the decision, and that the fine “doesn’t reflect the efforts put in place or the reality of the use of news content on our platform.” It said it is negotiating in good faith toward a solution

Company response

• Denial — Google

  We have acted in good faith throughout the entire process. The fine ignores our efforts to reach an agreement, and the reality of how news works on our platforms

Source excerpt

• We have acted in good faith throughout the entire process. The fine ignores our efforts to reach an agreement, and the reality of how news works on our platforms

• France's antitrust watchdog slapped a 500 million euro ($593 million) fine on Alphabet's Google on Tuesday for failing to comply fully with temporary orders the regulator had given in a row with the country's news publishers.

• News publishers APIG, SEPM and AFP accuse the tech company of having failed to open talks in good faith with them to find common ground for the remuneration of news content online , under a recent European Union directive that creates so-called "neighbouring rights".

Source excerpt

• Attorney General Kathy Jennings announced Thursday that Delaware and other state have filed suit against Google, alleging exclusionary conduct relating to the Google Play Store for Android mobile devices and Google Billing.

• The complaint, filed Wednesday evening, accuses Google of using its dominance to unfairly restrict competition with the Google Play Store, harming consumers by limiting choice and driving up app prices.

• According to the complaint, Google also requires that developers offering apps through the Google Play Store use Google Billing, which forces them to pay Google’s exorbitant commission—up to 30 percent—on in-app purchases made by consumers.

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• On Friday, West Virginia newspaper publishing company HD Media Company filed a complaint in the Southern District of West Virginia against Google and Facebook for purported antitrust violations in the digital advertising market, such that “the existence of the newspaper industry is threatened.”

• The defendants are accused of violating Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act and West Virginia law for this purported monopolization, contract, and conspiracy to restrain trade.

• A US-based news organisation has filed a lawsuit against Facebook and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, alleging that the tech giants with their dominance over the digital advertising market adversely affected an important revenue source.

Source excerpt

• It said the fines related to offences committed on January 22 to 24 this year, including "violating the procedure for removing information," all under Russia's Administrative Offences Code.

• The Tagansky District Court in Moscow said in a series of statements that it had issued three separate fines against Google of 3.2 million roubles, 3.3 million roubles and 2.4 million roubles, reported Reuters news agency.

• On Tuesday, the Tagansky district’s magistrate court in Moscow handed down three rulings fining Google a total of 6 million rubles ($82,000), Russia’s RBC news website reported.

Company response

• Clarification — Google

  Google is pledging it will not use other technology to replace the cookie or build features inside Chrome to allow itself access to that data

Source excerpt

• Now, Google is pledging it will not use other technology to replace the cookie or build features inside Chrome to allow itself access to that data, though it continues to test ways for businesses to target ads to large groups of anonymous users with common interests.

• Privacy activists for years have criticized tech companies including Google for using cookies to gather web browsing records across websites they don’t own, enabling them to develop profiles on users’ interests to serve personalized ads.

Company response

• Clarification — Google

  The company said on Thursday that it now specifies guidance on gamified loyalty programs that are based on a qualified monetary transaction in an app and offer prizes of cash or other real-world cash equivalent perks.

Source excerpt

• Google has updated and broadened its Play Store policy on gaming loyalty programs to help developers better understand the practices that are permitted, months after confusion about the guidance prompted some backlash in India, the biggest Android market by users.

Company response

• Apology — Google India

  we apologise for the misunderstanding and hurting any sentiments

• Remediation — Google

  The Search algorithm issue has been rectified now.

Source excerpt

• Facing a controversy after a Google Search with the keywords “ugliest language in India” showed “Kannada” in the results, Google India said on Thursday that it is not the reflection of the company, as it apologised for misunderstanding and hurting any sentiments.

• The Search algorithm issue has been rectified now.

Company response

• Remediation — Google

  Google has agreed to address the key competitive issues flagged by the suit. First, AdX will no longer use data collected on the price of offers from rival marketplaces “in a way that is not reproducible by third-party SSPs,” or supply-side platforms. Second, Google will make DFP work better with rival ad marketplaces to ease the creation of bidding competitions that include AdX.

• Remediation — Google

  Google did not contest the findings, and the regulator said the company has committed to operational changes including improved interoperability with third-party ad placement providers.

Source excerpt

• The French Competition Authority accused Google of integrating AdX and DFP in a way that gave it an unfair competitive advantage over rival ad platforms.

• Google LLC said today that it has agreed to pay 220 million euros, or about $268 million, to settle an antitrust lawsuit in France over its business practices in the online advertising market.

• The penalty is part of a settlement reached after three media groups — News Corp, French daily Le Figaro and Belgium’s Groupe Rossel — accused Google of effectively having a monopoly over ad sales for their websites and apps.

Company response

• Remediation — Google

  In addition to the fine, Google promised to remedy the situation by improving the interoperability of its Google Ad Manager services for third parties.

• Remediation — Google

  谷歌7日表示，将对其广告业务展开一系列改革，承诺帮助出版商使用该公司的广告数据和工具。

Source excerpt

• Google has agreed to pay €220 million and end anti-competitive practices, to settle a French antitrust probe over its abuse of power in online advertising. The French Competition Authority said Google has been unfairly sending business to its advertising server and its online ad auction house, to the detriment of rivals.

• 谷歌7日表示，将对其广告业务展开一系列改革，承诺帮助出版商使用该公司的广告数据和工具。

• 在其在线广告业务中，谷歌存在滥用市场主导地位的行为。

Company response

• Denial — Google

  Google denied that its practices breach German competition rules.

• Ongoing disclosure — Google

  Google said it would cooperate with the probe

Source excerpt

• The Federal Cartel Office, or Bundeskartellamt, said Tuesday that it has started proceedings against Google entities in Germany, Ireland and California based on new provisions in German competition law that apply to large digital companies.

• Google denied that its practices breach German competition rules.

• German regulators have launched an investigation into Google’s position in the market, and how the search engine and advertising giant handles user data.

Source excerpt

• 德國漢堡法院早前作出初步裁決，指 Google 的愛爾蘭分公司涉嫌侵犯了揚聲器生產商 Sonos 的專利，所有涉及投放（Cast）技術的 Google 產品都需要在當地停售，當中涉及智能揚聲器、媒體播放器和手機，此外，YouTube Music 程式亦需要下架。

Company response

• Ongoing disclosure — Google

  “For the past eight years, we have run annual internal pay equity analysis to identify and address any discrepancies.”

Source excerpt

• Google will pay almost $2.6 million to settle claims of “systemic compensation and hiring discrimination” at offices in California and Washington, the US Department of Labor said Monday.

• The department said it found pay disparities that affected Google female engineering employees, as well as female and Asian job applicants.

Company response

• Clarification — Google

  Google said people use its services because they are helpful, not because they are forced to do so or because they cannot find any alternatives.

Source excerpt

• The Federal Cartel Office said the investigation would consider whether the tech giant offers users enough choice in how it uses their data across the wide range of digital services it provides.

• Germany's antitrust watchdog has launched a probe into whether Google Germany, Google Ireland and its parent company Alphabet are exploiting their market dominance in the way they handle data, it said onTuesday.

• The watchdog has sought to treat user data as a competition issue, a position challenged by critics who say the matter falls under the purview of the European Union's privacy laws.

Source excerpt

• On Tuesday, Mikula Web Solutions, Inc. filed a class-action complaint against Google LLC purporting anticompetitive practices in the digital display ad market, leading to lower prices for ad spaces for the plaintiff and putative class.