Google will pay Agence France-Presse for the use of its content
Around the world, neighboring rights issues are creating very sharp tensions between the media and GAFA.
Pau Barrena AFP / Archives
Text by: Théo Renaudon
3 min
It is a long fight which ends after 18 months of bitter negotiations.
Google will pay Agence France-Presse (AFP) for the content it uses on its services.
An agreement was reached on Wednesday November 17 amid strong tensions between digital giants and media around the world.
This agreement is crucial for the French press.
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This is the first agreement between a news agency and Google.
A contract in the form of a five-year package, the precise amount of which has not been disclosed.
But in a note to employees, management clarified that the Web giant would become one of the biggest clients of Agence France-Presse.
A contract which encompasses the entire European Union, even countries which do not have the concept of neighboring rights enshrined in their law.
“
We sign this agreement to turn the page and move forward.
We are here to show that the players can get along and that we have found a solution,
”said Google France boss Sébastien Missoffe.
►
Also to listen: The battle for copyright in Europe
The culmination of a long fight
For his part, the director of AFP welcomes "
the outcome of a long struggle [...] (the money for this contract) will help to contribute to the production of quality information and to the development of innovation. within Agence France-Presse
”.
Fabrice Fries wants platforms to take an increasingly important place in AFP's income.
A partnership is signed with Facebook and another contract is in preparation with Google.
The agreement which has just been signed falls within the framework of the European directive on “neighboring rights”.
A directive that France was the first to transpose into its laws in 2019. It obliges the digital giants to pay the media and press agencies for the content they include in their services.
For example: the small news sheets from Google News which show the title and photo of a newspaper article.
This gives information to an Internet user without remunerating the media that he produces.
"
It is as if a radio was telling performers
: I give you visibility by broadcasting you, I will not pay you in addition ...
", lamented the director of Agence France-Presse, Fabrice Fries,
in a column in the newspaper
Le Monde
last year.
Neighboring rights therefore remedy this problem.
Google has long stubbornly refused this law.
A fine of 500 million euros was imposed on him on July 13 by the French Competition Authority.
The digital giant has appealed.
►
See also
: Neighboring rights, the Competition Authority imposes a 500 million euro fine on Google
High tensions around the world
Around the world, this copyright issue is creating very strong tensions between the media and GAFA.
In Spain, Google has closed its “Google News” service for seven years.
It should reopen in 2022. In Denmark, the main media are uniting in a coalition to confront the web giants in the negotiation of their copyright.
In Australia, a law comparable to the European directive on “neighboring rights” has just been passed.
►
To read also: Neighboring rights, Google signed an agreement to pay the French press
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