The Center for Journalism and Liberty Welcomes French Court’s Decision Banning Google's News Censorship Test

WASHINGTON - The Center for Journalism and Liberty at Open Markets Institute commends today’s ruling by the Paris Economic Activities Court to uphold a ban on Google’s controversial test that limits access to news in France following an emergency injunction. The test, being implemented across various European countries, would restrict access to news for an unspecified group of citizens across several Google search products 

“The decision to halt Google’s experiment to selectively suppress media articles in search results is a critical check on the unbridled influence of a dominant digital platform and should be made permanent,” said CJL Dr. Courtney Radsch. “Ensuring that dominant tech corporations like Google cannot discriminate against journalism is a critical step towards curbing their power. This ruling protects the public’s right to information and helps ensure that press publishers receive fair compensation for their work.”

According to the court, “the implementation of the test is likely to seriously infringe on citizens' right of access to press content, a right protected both constitutionally and conventionally.” The court’s decision orders Google to put an immediate stop to the experiment and imposes a daily penalty of €900,000 for non-compliance until the French Competition Authority rules on the case. Google, which was found to be have an illegal search monopoly in the US, has used similar news removal tactics and threats in Canada and California during negotiations related to legislation that would require platforms to compensate news publishers for the value they provide to dominant online search and social media.

In its decision that Google must carry news, the court reinforced the value of the EU rules and the additional regulatory framework that the French Competition Authority has put in place to support a more level playing field between digital platforms and press publishers.  

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