The EU is forcing tech giants to pay for journalism.

The European Court of Justice (CJUE) has issued a landmark ruling, affirming that EU member states have the full right to demand that digital platforms – including Meta – pay fair compensation to news organizations for exploiting online news content.

This is seen as a major victory for the European journalism industry in its struggle to share economic benefits with giant technology corporations.

According to the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Europe, the ruling stems from a dispute between Meta and the Italian media regulatory authority (AGCOM) dating back to 2023. At that time, AGCOM issued criteria for calculating the fees that digital platforms must pay to the press, based on Italian copyright law – which is built upon the EU directive on copyright in the digital market.

Meta objected, arguing that the Italian authorities had exceeded their jurisdiction, and took the case to the Lazio regional administrative court. Due to its complex legal nature, the case was subsequently transferred to the CJUE for adjudication.

In its ruling announced on May 12, the CJUE affirmed the legality of the "related rights" mechanism – under which digital platforms are obligated to pay royalties for the use of journalistic content.

However, the Court also laid out clear principles: the obligation to pay only arises when journalistic content is actually exploited; news organizations have the right to refuse or allow free use; and platforms cannot be required to pay if they do not exploit that content.

CJUE also confirmed the legality of a range of obligations that regulators can impose on digital platforms, including: participating in remuneration negotiations, maintaining the visibility of journalistic content throughout the negotiation process, and providing the necessary data to calculate compensation.

The court argued that only digital platforms possess complete data on revenue and economic value generated from journalistic content, while publishers are often at a disadvantage in negotiations.

The court argued that allowing platforms to reduce the display of news content during negotiations could become a tool for unfairly pressuring the press.

This ruling has attracted particular attention in France, a country that is leading the way in tightening the accountability of technology companies to journalism.

In late March, the French Parliament passed a bill proposed by MP Erwan Balanant, which aims to give the French media and digital regulatory agency (Arcom) more power to compel digital platforms to be transparent about data and to determine payment levels for journalism when agreements cannot be reached.

The bill is currently under consideration by the French Senate and is expected to be debated on June 16th.

Observers believe the CJUE ruling sends a clear message: the EU is ready to tighten the accountability of tech giants in sharing economic benefits with news organizations – original content producers facing significant financial challenges in the digital age.

(VNA/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/eu-buoc-cac-ong-lon-cong-nghe-tra-tien-cho-bao-chi-post1110117.vnp