The French press counterattacks. In a press release published this Tuesday, November 12, numerous press titles such as “Le Monde”, “Le Figaro”, “Le Parisien” and “Courrier international”, indicated that they were taking legal action against the social network ex-Twitter), whom they accuse of using their content without paying for it and thus violating the principle of “neighboring rights”, reports AFP. Rights related to copyright allow newspapers, magazines or press agencies to be remunerated when their content is reused by digital giants. They were established for digital platforms in 2019 by a European directive.
A standoff beginning in the summer of 2023
In detail, this joint action against the social network owned by American billionaire Elon Musk, is being carried out before the Paris judicial court by “the press publishers “Le Figaro”, “Les Échos”, “Le Parisien”, “Le Monde “, “Télérama”, “Courrier International”, “Le Huffington Post”, “Malesherbes Publications” and “Le Nouvel Obs””. It follows a first action carried out by these newspapers as well as the AFP, which had taken X, at the time still called Twitter, to court in the summer of 2023, in order to obtain remuneration for the use of its content on the social network. These media then criticized Twitter for not wanting to negotiate and communicate all the elements necessary to evaluate the remuneration owed to them.
READ ALSO: Neighboring rights: After Le Monde, Le Figaro and Les Échos-Le Parisien, the AFP takes X, the new name of Twitter, to court
On May 24, the summary judge of the Paris judicial court ruled in their favor. He ordered the social network to provide them, within two months, with a series of commercial data allowing them to assess the income it earns from their content. Twitter, which has since become X, “did not (…) comply“to this decision so far,”thus demonstrating its invariable desire to evade its legal obligations“, denounced the newspapers in their press release to justify their new legal action.
