Why several French media are suing the social network

Several French newspapers, including Le Figaro, The World, The Parisian or The Echoesannounced on Tuesday, November 12, that they were suing the social network X (formerly Twitter) of American billionaire Elon Musk. They accuse him of using their content without paying for it and thus violating the principle of “neighboring rights”.

This joint action is being carried out before the Paris judicial court by “the press publishers Le Figaro, The Echoes, The Parisian, The World, Telerama, International Mail, The Huffington Post, Malesherbes Publications et The New Obs“, they say in a press release.

What is neighboring rights?

Rights related to copyright were established for digital platforms in 2019 by a European directive. They allow newspapers, magazines or press agencies to be paid when their content is reused by digital giants.

Before this action on the merits, these newspapers, as well as theAFPhad summoned X and its French subsidiary for summary proceedings (an emergency procedure), accusing it of not wanting to negotiate.

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. The social network justice. Asked by AFP, X's lawyer did not comment.

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X accused of spreading disinformation

Active support of Donald Trump, elected President of the United States for the second time, Elon Musk is frequently accused of promoting disinformation on X, where he poses as an adversary of the media. Before this action against X, around fifty other French press publishers, mainly regional, announced on November 8 that they had filed legal action against the American giant Microsoft.

In total, several million euros are claimed by titles of groups such as Ouest-France or Ebra, in a series of summons filed with the Paris judicial court for “counterfeiting”.

Regularization of social networks difficult for the media

This long-term issue of “neighboring rights” has poisoned relations between the French press and the internet giants for five years. However, it experienced a lull in 2021: agreements were signed from October 2021 with Meta, owner of Facebook, and from March 2022 with Google.

But in March 2024, the matter once again took a conflicting turn: the Competition Authority imposed a fine of 250 million euros on Google, accusing it of not having respected some of the commitments made in 2022.

“Unlike Google and Meta, X has (…) never agreed to open negotiations with French press publishers in order to respect the legal framework on copyright and related rights, and this despite several months of procedures followed by amicable follow-ups”, underlined the newspapers which are suing X.

While the issue of neighboring rights has not even yet been definitively resolved, the media are facing a new challenge in remuneration for their content, with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) programs. In September, OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, refused group negotiations with two French press organizations to use the content of the 800 titles they represent for a fee.

With AFP

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