Agence France-Presse (AFP) filed a lawsuit in Paris against Elon Musk’s X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, claiming that X has refused to engage in discussions regarding compensation for distributing the news agency’s content. This legal action comes after France enacted a copyright rule called “neighbouring rights” in 2019, requiring major online platforms to negotiate remuneration with publishers for news content.
AFP expressed its concerns about X’s clear reluctance to implement neighbouring rights for the press in a statement. In response to the lawsuit, Elon Musk criticized the move in a post on X’s social media platform, questioning the idea of paying for traffic to AFP’s site where they generate advertising revenue and X does not.
X did not provide a comment in response to the request. Notably, in 2021, France’s antitrust watchdog imposed a 500 million euros fine on Alphabet’s Google for failing to comply with orders related to negotiations with French news publishers. Google later committed to resolving the dispute and reached agreements with AFP and other major French news organizations. Similarly, Meta Platforms’ Facebook also signed deals with some French publishers.