France is a lovely destination for many, but Google hasn't found much hospitality there lately. Relations between the search giant and France should be a bit rosier going forward however, as Google finally compromised a bit in its ongoing dispute over displaying links from the country's media sites.
Google's Eric Schmidt briefly laid out the agreed-upon two-pronged plan on his blog Friday. First, the company will create a €60 million (roughly $82 million) "Digital Publishing Innovation Fund" meant to "support transformative digital publishing initiatives for French readers." Second, Google agreed to further its partnership with French publishers by helping them use Google ad technologies to increase online revenues.
The move comes after a series of public disputes between Google and France in recent years. In 2010, the country was considering a so-called Google Tax under the belief that companies leveraging the Internet for advertising should support industries suffering because of the Internet. That never came to fruition, but last October a newly proposed French law would have forced Google to make payments when French media popped up in news searches. (The sites were upset Google received the ad revenue for such queries.) Google quickly responded with a letter to French ministers, saying it "cannot accept" that solution and would remove French media sites from its searches if the law passed. French President François Hollande chimed in soon after, backing his country's publishers and demanding Google reach an agreement before the end of 2012.
As Wired UK notes, Google's actions here may set up a difficult precedent for the company. Similar debates were happening within Germany in 2012, and media outlets worldwide could see this as an open invite. The decision is certainly out of line from previous Google actions when it comes to including news media information within search.
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