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world news Diamars 8 Juni 2021

France fines Google for abusing 'dominant' ads position

(AP) — Google is being vestigation of Google, using
fined 220 million euros stepped up powers to scruti-
($268 million) by France’s nize digital giants.
antitrust watchdog for
abusing its ‘dominant’ po- The German competition
sition in online advertis- watchdog said Friday that it
ing. was examining whether con-
tracts for news publishers
The search engine giant is using Google’s News Show-
also promising to overhaul case, a licensing platform
the way its platform is used launched last fall, include
for buying and selling digital “unreasonable conditions.”
ads, at least in France, which
could have repercussions on Google has been facing pres-
its ongoing legal fights with sure from authorities to pay
regulators elsewhere in Eu- for news and signed a deal
rope, the U.S. and around earlier this year with a group
the world. of French publishers that
paves the way for it to make
Google’s advertising practic- digital copyright payments.
es have harmed its competi-
tors along with publishers of European Union regulators
mobile websites and applica- have also charged Apple with
tions, the French Competi- stifling competition in music
tion Authority said Monday. streaming and accused Ama-
The authority said it is the “I imagine that Google’s de- to make the most of their ad- ployed more broadly, some zon of using data from inde-
responsibility of a company cision to settle reflected a vertising space,” de Silva said. of them globally, Gomri said. pendent merchants to unfair-
with a dominant market po- judgment that it could live She didn’t specify which ly compete against them with
sition to avoid unfairly un- with those terms even if it Google France’s legal di- changes would apply outside its own products. They are
dermining its competition. were forced upon it by other rector, Maria Gomri, said of France. investigating Google’s data
jurisdictions,” he said. in a blog post Monday that practices for advertising pur-
Google, based in Mountain Google has been collaborat- The French authority’s in- poses and recently opened a
View, California, did not dis- The head of the authority, ing for the past two years vestigation was prompted formal antitrust investigation
pute the facts and opted to Isabelle de Silva, said the de- with the French watchdog by complaints from Rupert into Facebook’s advertising
settle after proposing some cision was unprecedented in on issues related to ad tech- Murdoch’s News Corp., practices.
changes, according to a pre- the way that it delved into the nology, notably the platform French newspaper group Le
pared statement from the complex algorithmic auctions known as Google Ad Man- Figaro and Belgium-based In the U.S., the Justice De-
Competition Authority. that power Google’s business ager. She wrote that commit- Rossel La Voix. Le Figaro partment and dozens of states
selling online display ads. ments made during nego- later withdrew its complaint. brought antitrust lawsuits
The settlement might serve tiations would “make it easier against Google last year. They
as a roadmap for other gov- The fine, along with Google’s for publishers to make use of U.S. tech giants have been are seeking to prove that
ernments that are scrutiniz- commitment to changing its data and use our tools with facing intensifying scrutiny Google has been methodi-
ing Google’s market power, practices, “will make it pos- other ad technologies.” in Europe and elsewhere cally abusing its power as the
said Douglas Melamed, a sible to re-establish a level over their business practices. internet’s main gateway in
Stanford University law pro- playing field for all players, After tests in the months Germany became the lat- a way that hurts consumers
fessor. and the ability for publishers ahead, changes will be de- est country to launch an in- and advertisers.

Greece says many migrants in Turkey could seek asylum there

(AP) — Greece on Mon- Union member Greece, as which, he said, would “force” to wealthier EU countries —
day designated neigh- it would allow it to return Turkey to crack down on ille- Several human rights groups flows have since been greatly
boring Turkey as a safe asylum-seekers from these gal migration and smuggling have accused Greece of il- reduced.
country in which to seek countries to Turkey — which networks. legally deporting some mi-
international protection itself has a huge migrant and grants to Turkey without let- So far this year, just over
for the majority of asy- refugee population. Mitarachi added that the de- ting them apply for asylum. 3,000 people have reached
lum-seekers departing its cision “is fully in line with in- Athens denies that. Greece from Turkey, mostly
shores for Greece. Nevertheless, despite pres- ternational law and enhances by sea in flimsy craft. Ac-
sure from the EU and Ath- Greece’s legal arsenal against Although a record 1 mil- cording to the U.N. refugee
A joint decree from the Greek ens, Ankara has shown little (asylum) requests by citizens lion people entered Greece agency, 47% were Afghans,
foreign and migration minis- appetite for taking back mi- of ... Syria, Afghanistan, Paki- through Turkey in 2015 — 15% were Syrians and 9%
tries said the designation ap- grants who reached Greece stan, Bangladesh and Soma- mostly seeking to move on were Somalis.
plies to asylum-seekers from from its territory, despite a lia, who objectively have no
Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, 2016 Turkish-EU agreement reason not to consider Tur-
Bangladesh and Somalia. It that was meant to stem illegal key a safe country.”
said Turkey meets all criteria migration into the 27-nation
to examine asylum requests bloc. Greece and Turkey are his-
from these nationals, as there toric regional rivals, and mili-
“they are not in any danger Greek officials said Athens tary tensions rose danger-
... due to their race, religion, has so far this year asked Tur- ously last year over marine
citizenship, political beliefs key to take back 1,453 people, boundaries. Athens accuses
or membership in some par- without success. Ankara of using migration
ticular social group, and can as a weapon, pointing to the
seek asylum in Turkey in- Nevertheless, Migration Turkish government’s failed
stead of in Greece.” Minister Notis Mitarachi de- bid last year, before the mili-
scribed Monday’s decision as tary tension, to wave thou-
That, in theory, could reduce “an important step in tack- sands of migrants and refu-
migration flows to European ling illegal migration flows” gees towards Greece.