Meta loses appeals over French media-rights measures

Meta Platforms has lost appeals against interim measures imposed by French regulators during a dispute with press publishers and news agencies over payment for the use of their content.

Appeals court upholds interim measures

The Paris Court of Appeals rejected Meta’s challenges to two measures issued in July by France’s Competition Authority. The court said Meta’s practices, including the way it determined amounts payable to press publishers under neighboring-rights rules, may constitute an abuse of a dominant position under French and European competition law.

French law requires press agencies and publishers to authorize the digital reproduction of their work and provides for payment. Meta had negotiated agreements with press organizations, but later discussions did not produce a new deal.

What Meta must do

The measures require Meta to resume good-faith negotiations with the organizations, provide information about revenue from its services and its use of protected press content, and avoid degrading how the organizations’ content is displayed while negotiations continue.

France’s Competition Authority said the measures followed complaints from the Société des Droits Voisins de la Presse and the Alliance de la Presse d’Information Générale. It said the organizations had challenged Meta’s proposed payment methodology and its failure to provide information needed to assess the offers.

The authority said the measures were intended to address what it described as serious and immediate harm to the press sector. The measures remain in force until the authority issues a decision on the substance of the case, according to its July announcement.

Meta assessing next steps

A Meta spokesperson said the company was disappointed by the ruling. Meta is assessing its next steps but will continue complying with the interim measures and negotiating in good faith, the spokesperson said.

Sources: Reuters; France’s Competition Authority; Competition Authority case overview.