France reaches landmark deal with Google

France has inked a landmark agreement with Google, under which the web giant will pay 60 million euros into a new fund to help media outlets increase their online revenue.

In return, French publishers will stop pushing Google to pay them for posting links to their content.

The firm’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt came to Paris to seal the deal with French President François Hollande.

Hollande had threatened to draft a law forcing the tech giant to pay media for linking to their content if a solution was not found.

The President said he was proud the two sides had finally resolved a long-running dispute:

“The fund will help our press adapt to the digital age. It will also help investment and innovation, which is good for the French press, for content and also for Google,” Hollande said.

France’s agreement with Google is the first of its kind on such a scale, although the company settled a similar dispute with Belgian publishers last month.

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