French court orders Google to pay €126 million to media groups

Google has been ordered by a French court to pay €126 million in damages to several French media groups after the court found in their favour over claims of anti-competitive practices in the company's online advertising business.

According to Le Figaro, which was among the claimants, the ruling awarded €61 million to Prisma Media, €26 million to Le Figaro, €11.5 million to Les Echos-Le Parisien and €27.5 million to video-sharing platform Dailymotion.

The media groups had initially sought €570 million in compensation, the newspaper said.

A Google spokesperson said the company disagreed with the ruling but had not yet decided whether it would appeal the decision.