Poland’s competition authority has accused four companies in Google’s corporate group of abusing market power in negotiations over payments to news publishers, opening a case that could expose the businesses to a fine tied to global turnover.
The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, known as UOKiK, said the alleged conduct concerns the use of press articles and snippets in Google Search, Google News and Discover. The companies named are Alphabet Inc., Google LLC, Google Ireland Limited and Google Poland.
The authority’s case is built around the bargaining process created after Poland amended its copyright law in 2024 to implement the European Union’s digital copyright directive. Publishers acquired a statutory route to remuneration when online platforms use their work. UOKiK alleges that Google entered those talks with a decisive information advantage, failed to provide data needed to assess the value of the content and steered negotiations on terms set largely by the platform.
These are administrative charges, not a final finding of infringement. The companies will have an opportunity to answer them before UOKiK reaches a decision. Under Polish competition law, a confirmed abuse of dominance can attract a penalty of as much as 10 percent of annual turnover.
The inquiry runs separately from the European Commission’s proceeding into Google’s use of publishers’ material in artificial-intelligence services. UOKiK said the two authorities coordinated the division of issues: the Polish case concerns conventional search results, Google News and Discover, while the Commission is examining AI products and publishers’ ability to refuse use of their work.
The distinction matters because the Polish case tests the mechanics of bargaining itself. A remuneration right may have little practical force if the party controlling audience data also controls what information enters the negotiation. UOKiK’s eventual decision will therefore turn not only on whether Google paid publishers, but on whether the process allowed them to bargain on an informed and independent footing.
