FRANCE’S competition regulator fined Google €500 million (£427.6m) today for failing to negotiate “in good faith” over the use of content under EU copyright legislation.

The fine is the biggest ever issued by the Competition Authority for failing to abide by its rulings, spokeswoman Isabelle de Silva said.

Google has also been ordered to present “an offer of remuneration for the current use of their copyright content” to media publishers after showing articles, pictures and videos without adequate compensation.

The long-running legal battle over so-called “neighbouring rights” came after the introduction of new EU legislation governing digital copyright that aimed to ensure that news publishers are compensated when their work is shown on websites, search engines and social media platforms.

Agence France-Presse brought a case against Google in September, saying the internet giant was refusing to make payments after content was displayed in web searches.

Google said that is was “very disappointed” by today’s decision.

“This fine does not reflect the efforts put in place, nor the reality of the use of news content on our platform,” it said.