On Wednesday, the 2nd of August, news agency AFP filed a copyright lawsuit against social media giant Twitter, which was recently re-branded as X.
For a long time media groups have claimed that their content provides revenue for platforms like X, Facebook and Google, adding that they should receive a cut from these profits.
Media organisations’ attempts to make sure technological giants pay for news were supported by the European Directive on copyright and related rights of 2019.
In the end Google and Facebook agreed to pay various French mass media outlets.
French news agency AFP accused X of refusing to get involved in discussions about related rights and announced having filed a lawsuit to a court of law in Paris.
AFP wants to recover from X data that would allow the French news agency to calculate a fair compensation amount.
AFP stresses it has no intention of backing off. The news agency will continue using legal means against any platform to ensure fair distribution of the value created by the sharing of news content.
X platform’s owner, billionaire Elon Musk, who purchased the platform last year (then known as Twitter) for USD 44 billion, said AFP’s lawsuit is strange.
Although in France media groups have gained some victories, major technological companies in other regions fiercely resist changes.
This week Meta blocked Facebook and Instagram users in Canada the ability to see news companies’ posts in relation to the law regarding content compensations.
Google has threatened to take similar actions. Meta and Google object to similar proposals in Australia.
Both companies dominate when it comes to online advertisements. Both are accused of causing an outflow of money from traditional news organisations while using their content free of charge.
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