Google fined 250m in France for breaching intellectual property rules

Google has been fined 250m ( 213m) by French regulators for breaching an agreement over paying media companies for reproducing their content online. France's competition watchdog said on Wednesday that it was fining the US tech company for breaches linked to intellectual property rules related to news media publishers. The regulator also cited concerns about Google's AI service. The competition authority said Google's AI-powered chatbot Bard – since rebranded as Gemini – was trained on content from publishers and news agencies without notifying them. The watchdog said in a statement that the fine was for "failing to respect commitments made in 2022" and accused Google of not negotiating in "good faith" with news publishers on how much to compensate them for use of their content.