(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Google Fined $268 Million in France, Agrees to Changes in Advertising
Google has agreed to make changes to its online advertising business in a settlement with the French government.
The agreement, announced Monday, requires Google to pay a $268 million fine for abusing its "dominant position" in the online advertising market.
The French Competition Authority said it had found that Google's ad management system for large publishers favored its own online ad marketplace, AdX, over competitors. AdX is a tool used by publishers to sell advertising space. French officials said AdX is built to work more effectively with the service Google Ad Manager than with other ad placement providers.
Google did not dispute the findings and said it had agreed to make changes to its advertising business as part of the settlement.
The company promised to improve the way its Ad Manager services work with competing online advertising systems. It also said it had agreed to make it easier for publishers to use its data and tools. A company statement said Google "will be testing and developing these changes over the coming months" before launching them widely.
The head of the French Competition Authority, Isabelle de Silva, said it was "the first decision in the world" to center on Google's complex ad serving system. The system uses algorithms to decide which ads users are shown.
Google's ad systems had hurt competition in the online marketplace and permitted the company "not only to maintain, but also to increase its dominant position," de Silva said.
The settlement "will make it possible to re-establish a level playing field for all players, and the ability for publishers to make the most of their advertising space," de Silva added.
The investigation began after three media groups -- U.S.-based News Corp., French newspaper group Le Figaro and Belgium press group Rossel -- launched a complaint against Google in 2019.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire welcomed the decision. He said Google systems that help its own ad technologies hurt press groups that depend heavily on online adverting income. "These are serious practices and they have been rightly sanctioned," Le Maire said.
Major technology companies have been facing increasing attention in Europe and other places over their business methods. Germany also launched an investigation of Google.
The German government said last week it was examining whether contracts for news publishers using a Google licensing system included "unreasonable conditions."
The European Union has accused Apple of blocking competition in online music sales. It also has accused Amazon of using information from independent businesses to unfairly compete against them with its own products. In addition to that, the EU is looking into Google's advertising systems and methods.
I'm Bryan Lynn.
重点解析
重点讲解：
1. make changes to 改变...；对...做出改变
Shanghai will make changes to 263 phone booths in Xuhui District.
上海将对徐汇区263个电话亭进行改造。
2. center on 集中在；以...为中心
Her research is centered on the social effects of unemployment.
她的研究课题是失业对社会的影响。
3. look into 调查；观察
They set up a working party to look into the issue.
他们设立了一个特别工作组来调查这个问题。
4. In addition to 除...之外
There's a postage and packing fee in addition to the repair charge.
除修理费之外还有邮寄和包装费。
参考译文
法国向谷歌开出2.68亿美元罚单
谷歌与法国政府达成和解，同意对其线上广告业务进行调整。
周一宣布的这项协议要求谷歌支付2.68亿美元的罚款，原因是谷歌滥用其在线上广告市场的“主导地位”。
法国竞争管理局表示，它发现谷歌面向大型出版商的广告管理系统更偏向自己的在线广告市场ADX，而非竞争对手。ADX是发布商用于出售广告位的工具。
法国官员表示，与其它广告位提供商相比，ADX旨在与谷歌广告管理服务更有效地合作。
谷歌没有对调查结果提出异议，并表示作为和解协议的一部分，已经同意对其广告业务进行调整。
该公司承诺改善其广告管理服务与竞争对手线上广告系统的合作方式。该公司还表示已同意让发布商更容易使用其数据和工具。该公司发布的一份声明表示，谷歌将在未来数月内对这些调整进行测试、开发，然后再大规模应用。
法国竞争管理局局长伊莎贝尔·德席尔瓦表示，这是全球首个聚焦谷歌复杂广告服务系统的裁决。该系统使用算法来决定向用户展示哪些广告。
德席尔瓦表示，谷歌的广告系统损害了线上市场的竞争，并允许该公司不仅保持，甚至提升了其主导地位。
德席尔瓦还表示，这份协议将有可能为所有玩家打造一个公平的竞争环境，并使发布商能够充分利用其广告位。
该调查是美国新闻集团、法国费加罗报业集团和比利时罗塞尔报业集团于2019年对谷歌发起投诉后进行的。
法国财政部长布鲁诺·勒梅尔（Bruno Le Maire）对该决定表示欢迎。他说，谷歌帮助自身广告技术的系统，伤害了严重依赖线上广告收入的报业集团。勒梅尔表示：“这些做法都非常严重的行为，它们受到了正当的制裁。”
大型科技公司因其商业模式在欧洲等地受到越来越广泛的关注。德国也对谷歌展开了调查。
德国政府上周表示，正在审查新闻出版商使用谷歌许可系统的合同是否包含“不合理条件”。
欧盟指责苹果公司在线上音乐销售方面阻碍竞争。它还指责亚马逊使用独立企业的信息，用自身产品与他们不公平竞争。除此之外，欧盟也在研究谷歌的广告系统和广告形式。
布莱恩·林恩为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
