A regulator in Germany has reportedly decided not to pursue a complaint against Google by publishers who don’t like the way Google surfaces their articles.
While a law passed in Germany last year that enables publishers to keep Google and others from using anything more than small excerpts from articles, Germany’s Cartel Office decided, according to Reuters, that the scope of that legislation isn’t yet entirely clear. The news agency shares a statement from the office:
“Sufficient suspicion is always necessary to initiate an abuse procedure. The complaint from VG Media did not establish this,” Andreas Mundt, president of Germany’s Federal Cartel Office, said in a statement on Friday.
VG Media is the group of complaining publishers, which includes Axel Springer SE and Burda.
Earlier this summer, news emerged of a thirty-page document drafted by the Cartel Office, which outlined (among other things) how it would treat Google and other large American tech companies like utilities. This would be to limit the amount of power that such companies hold.
The document was supposed to be secret, but The Sunday Times shed light on some of its contents.
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