Paris court suspends Google test limiting users’ news access, RSF calls for permanent ban
The Paris Commercial Court has suspended an experimental project by Google to assess the relevance of press content on its search engine that would restrict access to news sources for 1% of its users in France. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) welcomed the ruling and urges the Autorité de la Concurrence, France’s competition regulator, to ban the test permanently.
On Thursday, 20 February, the court ruled in a case brought by the French syndicate of magazine press publishers (SEPM) against Google. The company behind the eponymous online search engine had announced plans to conduct a test that involved removing media content from its services Google Search, Google News, and Google Discover for 1% of its users in France.
SEPM challenged the legality of the experiment, filing a case with the Paris Commercial Court. RSF joined the legal proceedings and attended the hearing on 30 January to emphasise the risks the test posed to the right to reliable information for hundreds of thousands of users. SEPM argued that the experiment violated Google’s commitments to the Autorité de la Concurrence, specifically its pledge not to alter user experience during negotiations over intellectual property rights.
The court ruled against the American company, stating, “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.” It ordered the suspension of the test until the Autorité de la Concurrence delivers its opinion on the case. RSF welcomes this decision and calls on the competition regulator to sanction Google and prohibit it from carrying out this test.
"The threat posed by the test was so blatant that the court made what was clearly the only possible decision. We will remain extremely vigilant to any further attempts to carry out this kind of experiment and call on the Autorité de la Concurrence to ban this scandalous test permanently. The ruling shows that RSF arguments in favour of reliable access to information have prevailed.
"We welcome this decision, which is a victory for press publishers and press freedom in our country.
The online search giant is known for using experimental tests as a tactic during negotiations over content moderation: Google recently employed a similar strategy during talks over Canada’s C-18 law, which requires platforms to compensate media outlets for the value their content provides the search engine.
