Google hit with $1.3m fine in France over misleading hotel ratings

Google was fined €1.1 million ($1.3m) by French authorities for misleading consumers with its ratings of hotels and tourist destinations.

An investigation by France's finance ministry and consumer watchdog the Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and the Repression of Fraud said the Alphabet-owned company posted misleading rankings and classifications on its search engine and Google Maps.

Google France and Google Ireland, the European headquarters of the US technology company, agreed to pay the fine.

"This practice was particularly damaging for consumers ... misled about the level of services they could expect when booking accommodation," the DGCCRF said.

“It also resulted in prejudice for hoteliers whose establishments were wrongly presented as lower ranked than on the official ranking of Atout France.”

Alphabet’s Q4 profit surges 43% on strong Google business

Quicktake: how Google racked up €8.2 billion in fines from the EU

Atout France is the country's tourism development arm.

Complaints by French hoteliers surfaced in 2019 after Google replaced Atout France's official classification system with its own ranking system. Both used a "star" rating. Google then applied this to more than 7,500 establishments.

In its report, the consumer watchdog said it considered the “nature of the information communicated on the classification of tourist accommodation” as deceptive.

However, when an inquiry began in September 2019, Google corrected this and returned to using Atout France's official rankings.

“We have now settled with the DGCCRF and made the necessary changes to only reflect the official French star rating for hotels on Google Maps and Search,” a Google executive told TechCrunch.

Google has previously faced trouble in France over the amount of tax it pays. In September 2019, the company agreed to pay €945m to French tax authorities to settle a long-running tax dispute.

In March 2019, it was also fined €1.5 billion by the EU for practices deemed to be anti-competitive. This followed previous anti-trust disputes in 2017 and 2018 that led to the company being slapped with total fines of €6.8bn.

65

%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirectors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EScott%20Beck%2C%20Bryan%20Woods%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAdam%20Driver%2C%20Ariana%20Greenblatt%2C%20Chloe%20Coleman%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis

'We are betting on you - you are the future', Gargash tells young Emiratis

'Pursue what you love - not just a high salary', universities minister tells young Emiratis

Young Emiratis are real target of fake news, Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis hears

F1 The Movie

Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rating: 4/5

Tips to stay safe during hot weather

Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
Seek cool environments: Use air conditioning, fans, or visit community spaces with climate control.
Limit outdoor activities: Avoid strenuous activity during peak heat. If outside, seek shade and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
Dress appropriately: Wear lightweight, loose and light-coloured clothing to facilitate heat loss.
Check on vulnerable people: Regularly check in on elderly neighbours, young children and those with health conditions.
Home adaptations: Use blinds or curtains to block sunlight, avoid using ovens or stoves, and ventilate living spaces during cooler hours.
Recognise heat illness: Learn the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (dizziness, confusion, rapid pulse, nausea), and seek medical attention if symptoms occur.

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.