(July 8): Meta Platforms Inc was ordered by the French competition watchdog to hold talks with news organisations over copyright payments, following two complaints that the social media giant was abusing its dominant position.
Meta must negotiate in good faith with press organisations over the criteria for copyright payments and communicate within 15 days the information to calculate such compensation, the Autorité de la concurrence said in a statement on Wednesday.
Two organisations of news publishers filed complaints last year, alleging that the Facebook parent failed to negotiate new copyright payments with publishers, which led to a steep reduction in compensation for excerpts of articles that were posted on its social media platforms, the watchdog said.
Meta reduced payments after a 2021 deal with press organisations expired, according to the General Information Press Alliance, an industry group representing 300 publications that is also known by its French initials Apig. The Society for Related Rights of the Press, or DVP, which represents over 800 national and regional titles, filed a similar complaint.
“We disagree with these decisions, but we will participate constructively in this process,” Meta said in a statement. “We remain committed to reaching a fair agreement with DVP and Apig.”
Tech companies such as Meta and Alphabet Inc’s Google increasingly dominate the online advertising market at the expense of publishers, with advertisers buying directly from platforms that can offer scale, user data and targeting. News media say excerpts of their content help the platforms sell ads.
See also: Apple loses spat with EU over App Store and iPhone rules
The French antitrust authority has been seeking to force US tech firms to negotiate deals with press publishers for republishing their content. So-called neighbouring rights were targeted as part of the European Union’s 2019 Copyright Directive.
Google also signed a deal with French press outlets in 2021. The competition watchdog fined the company €250 million in 2024 for failing to keep its pledge to broker fair agreements for publishing links to their content, including by using press articles to train artificial intelligence without informing them.
Uploaded by Arion Yeow
