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In recent years, media from all over the world have been playing games with Internet giants, demanding that the latter pay their dues for the use of news works, and France has taken the lead in this regard.
According to Agence France-Presse, after a two-year tussle with the US company Google, the French media recently announced the signing of an agreement on the "neighboring rights" of news works.
The agreement, which will see Google pay for the use of French media's news work, has drawn international attention.
A press payment agreement
It is understood that Article 11 of the "Digital Single Market Copyright Directive" adopted by the European Union in 2019 grants news and publications "adjacent rights related to copyright".
According to the "neighboring rights", for the Internet platform to display news and publication content (including links, titles and specific content, etc.), news and publication organizations have the right to require Internet companies to pay fees.
According to this principle, Google needs to pay when the content of the media's news work appears on the webpage of Google's search engine.
However, the EU directive has been difficult to implement because of resistance from Internet giants including Google.
On July 23, 2019, the French parliament also voted to pass the bill establishing neighboring rights, becoming the first EU country to pass the relevant law.
On March 3, the Press Union, which brings together nearly 300 French national and local media, announced an agreement with Google.
The announcement from Google and the News Union said the new agreement was a historic step in the implementation of "neighboring rights" and established the principle of paying the media "on the basis of transparency and equality."
The two sides did not disclose the approximate amount, but some media that had signed a separate agreement with Google before revealed some relevant information.
For example, the French "Le Monde" and Google have reached an agreement to charge Google about 1 million euros a year, and the "Southern Express" has reached an agreement with Google and Facebook, which can get a total of about 2 million euros a year from the latter two companies.
Google said the agreement with the News Union involved 25 percent of online media, 40 percent of online audiovisual media and 40 percent of qualified professional journalists.
After several years of games with the media and related agencies, Google now hopes to launch a number of cooperation projects with French media, including monetizing advertising content, determining subscription rules and providing editorial departments with corresponding editing tools.
Google said it was also in talks with other French news organizations, including the National Federation of Professional Media and the Union of Press Agencies, but progress was slow.
Next, Google also hopes to sign similar agreements with French magazine news editors unions, independent authors and audiovisual news sites. "We hope to sign multiple agreements in the next few weeks to provide compensation to two-thirds of French media."
Copyright battles have been around for a long time
In fact, the copyright battle between Google and news organizations has a long history, and the two have always had a dispute over the payment of "neighboring rights".
Google doesn't want to pay publishers for snippets and thumbnails included on search results pages, citing the huge amount of traffic that would generate enough traffic to offset the costs.
And for publishers, they think Google itself is a content producer with search results pages that grab users' attention and should pay for it.
In April 2020, the French competition regulator instructed the two parties to negotiate and negotiate; in October of the same year, the Paris Court of Appeal ruled that the competition regulator's decision was valid, forcing both parties to negotiate on this issue.
In January 2021, Google and the Press Union signed a three-year framework agreement, whereby Google agreed to pay a total of $76 million to 121 French publishers.
Earlier that year, Google also held numerous talks with major French magazines, AFP and others.
But Google hasn't signed any separate licensing deals with News Union members since then, and talks have effectively frozen, the sources said.
The move sparked accusations against Google from several French news organizations.
Investigators from France's competition watchdog have accused Google of not complying with the agency's order and failing to negotiate copyright issues with local media as required.
The agency had previously given Google three months to negotiate with any news publisher that asked, according to reports.
In July 2021, the French competition watchdog made a decision to fine Google 500 million euros, a decision that also invalidated the agreement reached in January 2021.
The chairman of France's competition watchdog said the 500 million euro fine was not only meant to punish Google for serious violations, but also for its disregard for regulatory orders.
French President Emmanuel Macron commented on this: "The fine of 500 million euros by the French competition watchdog on Google is a great victory, but there is still a long way to go (to make Google pay for news works)."
The "neighboring rights" agreement reached by the Press Union and Google will undoubtedly make France take a big step in the news payment game with the Internet giant.
Active follow-up in many countries around the world
In fact, the question of whether Internet giants should pay for news content has been raised around the world. Many countries and regions have adopted legislation to actively explore and improve intellectual property protection in the Internet age.
On February 17, 2021, the Australian House of Representatives voted to pass the News Media and Internet Platform Forced Bargaining Act.
The bill, led by the Australian Treasury, aims to redistribute profits in the Internet economy, forcing Internet giants such as Facebook and Google, which act as intermediaries in news distribution, to pay news organizations.
Treasurer Frydenberg has said the bill "would safeguard Australia's journalism in the public interest by ensuring that the news media receive fair economic remuneration for the content they produce."
After Australia started legislation requiring internet giants to pay for publishing content in its own media, Canada has also made it clear that it will require Facebook to pay for reprinting content from Canadian news outlets.
Canada's Culture and Heritage Minister Stephen Gilbert said he would be in charge of drafting the legislation for publication in the coming months.
Within Europe, the European Union passed the Digital Single Market Copyright Directive in 2019, granting press and publications "related rights related to copyright".
On December 15, 2020, the European Commission published the drafts of the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act.
Analysts believe that in the past, Google resisted calls from many countries around the world to pay for news works, but now multiple countries have formed a "united front", which makes it difficult for Google to resist.
This time, Google made concessions to the French news media and reached a "neighboring rights" agreement, which will increase the chances of winning the game between news media in other countries and Google.