France fines Google 1.1 million euros over 'misleading' hotel rankings practices

Search engine Google has agreed to pay a penalty of 1.1 million euros for showing the 'misleading' rank of France hotels. Earlier, Google used information from official source 'Atout France' and the hotel industry website to give hotels a ranking of one to five stars.

Both Google Ireland and Google France have agreed to pay the fine after a probe found that Google's hotel rankings could be misleading for consumers, France's finance ministry and fraud watchdog said on Monday.

The ministry and watchdog also said in a statement that Google has amended its hotel rankings practices since September 2019.

Following complaints from hoteliers about the rank being shown on Google, the French government agency launched investigations into the matter in 2019 and 2020. Google said that it has made the necessary changes to show the official French star rank of hotels on Google Maps and Search.