Spain's competition authority has launched an investigation against Google over "possible anti-competitive practices" by the American giant, which is accused of imposing "unequal trading conditions" on media and news agencies.

This was announced late yesterday in a communiqué by the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC), quoted by France Press.

This investigation against Google and parent company Alphabet aims to determine whether the American giant imposed "practices that may constitute an abuse of a dominant position" towards media groups, the competition authority announced.

The investigation was launched in connection with a complaint from an organization representing media groups, publishing houses and authors - the Spanish Center for Reproduction Rights, the National Commission for Markets and Competition said.

According to the Spanish competition authority, Google may have imposed "unequal commercial conditions on publishers of media publications and news agencies established in Spain regarding the use of content protected by intellectual property".

The competition authority did not give information on the period covered by the investigation, nor on what kind of sanctions Google will face if these allegations of abuse of a dominant position are proven. 

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In recent years, the disputes of the EU and some member states with American digital giants, including Google, have increased, with the companies being sanctioned with heavy fines by the EU, totaling 8 billion euros. 

The EU agreed in March 2022 on new legislation - the Regulation on accessible and fair markets in the digital sector - to end the dominance of the digital giants.

The concept of "neighboring rights", which allows newspapers, shops and news agencies to receive remuneration when their content is reused online, was introduced for online platforms by a European directive adopted in March 2019 by the European Parliament.

France is the first country in the EU to implement the reform with a law adopted in July 2019 and entered into force three months later, notes BTA. 

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