Case filed against Google for anti-competitive Spanish press practices

The Spanish Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMC) on Tuesday opened a sanctioning file against Google for a possible abuse of its dominant position with respect to publishers of press publications and news agencies in Spain by exercising restrictive strategies. Specifically, according to the CNMC, the abuse consists of imposing "unfair" commercial conditions on the media for the exploitation of their content protected by the Intellectual Property Law.

The case, which will have to be resolved within a maximum period of 18 months, follows a complaint filed by the Spanish centre for copyright (Cedro) in 2021 about the treatment that Google was giving to press publishers in the different services offered by the technology company. Cedro's legal director, Javier Díaz de Olarte, said the technology giant "was not treating press publishers in a way that complied with competition rules, nor was it treating them in the same way as perhaps other agents carrying out the same activity in the market as Google".

Cedro said that Google's activity was ultimately damaging "the independence, plurality and freedom of the press" in Spain, "one of the foundations of the rule of law".

With the procedure opened by the CNMC, which is also investigating practices that could constitute acts of unfair competition that could distort free competition and affect the public interest, Google could opt for two options, according to Díaz. On the one hand, the US company could reach an agreement with the CNMC and implement solutions with Spanish publishers, or, in the worst case scenario, face a fine and possible compensation payments.