AFP sues Musk’s X social media

PARIS, (Reuters): News agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) has said it filed a lawsuit in Paris against Elon Musk’s X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, accusing it of failing to discuss potential payment for the distribution of the news agency’s content.

Media groups have long argued that their stories and images bring value to platforms like X, Facebook and Google, meaning they should get a slice of the profits, AFP said.

France in 2019 enacted a copyright rule dubbed “neighbouring rights” that compels large online platforms to open talks with publishers seeking remuneration for news. Google and Facebook eventually agreed to pay some French media outlets.

But AFP has accused X, owned by billionaire tycoon Elon Musk, of a “clear refusal” to engage in discussions on neighbouring rights. It said in a statement that it had lodged a case with a judge in Paris to force the platform to hand over data that would allow the French news agency to estimate a fair level of compensation.

X did not respond to a request for comment.

In 2021, France’s antitrust watchdog fined Alphabet’s Google 500 million euros for failing to comply with orders on how to conduct talks with the country’s news publishers.

Since then, Google has committed to resolving the dispute and has announced deals with AFP and several other leading French news organisations. Meta Platforms’ Facebook too has signed agreements with some French publishers.

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