Source: AFP
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A Paris court ruled on Thursday that X must provide French media with information on how much money he makes from publishing their content as part of a legal battle over royalty payments.
Twelve media outlets, including Le Monde, Le Figaro and AFP, are demanding payment of so-called neighboring rights. In 2019, the EU created the form of copyright that allows print media to demand compensation for the use of their content.
The ruling orders X to act within two months to provide media organizations with data including the number of views of their information, the number of clicks on content, as well as data on reader engagement such as retweets, likes and sharing.
X was required to inform the media about the revenue X generated in France from this information, according to a copy of the decision.
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X was also ordered to describe how its algorithms lead it to publish the media content.
The information, which must remain confidential, is necessary for a “transparent assessment” of how much media outlets consider they are owed for publishing their content under neighboring rights law, the ruling said.
The judge made the fast-track decision and the media will have to go back to court for a decision to make X pay.
However, AFP chief executive Fabrice Fries hailed the decision as a “decisive step” to honor the new right in practice as it recognizes that X is subject to the law.
“The decision confirms that X/Twitter is subject to neighboring media rights and compels the platform to provide information required by law to determine payments” due to the media, X wrote.
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![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/7a5f2bc4652d6ac7.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
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France as a test case
Last year the media, which also includes the Huffington Post and Les Echos-Le Parisien, filed a lawsuit after X refused to negotiate. A hearing was held on March 4 after mediation efforts failed.
AFP lawyer Julien Guinot-Delery called the decision unprecedented. “The blocking of X can no longer continue.”
X’s lawyers declined to immediately comment on the ruling.
However, during the March hearing, X’s lawyer argued that the platform was not subject to neighboring rights legislation, which arose from an EU directive, as users are the ones who post content on the platform.
France has been a test case for the EU’s neighboring rights rules, and after initial resistance, Google and Facebook agreed to pay some French media outlets for articles that appear in web searches.
Despite the payments to the media, Google was recently fined 250 million euros ($270 million) for not negotiating in good faith with news publishers and not honoring some of the promises it had made.
Source: AFP