In May 2021, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) opened an antitrust investigation against Google that centers on its News Showcase and whether its "opt-in" feature is a way to circumvent EU laws requiring publisher payment. This week the FCO expanded its probe to include Google Maps, Reuters reports. It's hard to imagine a global news infrastructure functioning without Google News search, and the company is clearly trying to improve the news experience for readers with updates like the "most cited" feature rolled out earlier this year, and this new dashboard refresh, which helps searchers "easily find stories from local news publishers," TechCrunch writes, quoting Google's blog post in a story about the News dashboard revamp. The Wall Street Journal reports that as part of its settlement in France, "Google has dropped its appeal of last year's fine, and will allow publishers with which it has already struck deals to renegotiate their licenses with the benefit of the new commitments."