Meta Ordered to Compensate Italian Publishers for News Article Snippets
European Court Ruling and Its Implications
By Foo Yun Chee
Meta's Legal Challenge in Luxembourg
LUXEMBOURG, May 12 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms on Tuesday lost its fight against an Italian regulatory order that it should compensate publishers for using snippets of their news articles after Europe's top court sided with the Italian telecoms watchdog.
Copyright Battle Between Publishers and Tech Companies
The case underscores the ongoing copyright battle between publishers and creators and tech companies over the use of newspaper articles or authors' work for AI training that have triggered litigation against companies including Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic for infringement.
Court's Statement on Fair Compensation
"The Court finds that a right to fair compensation for publishers is consistent with EU law, provided that that
remuneration constitutes consideration for authorising their publications to be used online," the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) said.
Background and Legal Proceedings
The case came before the Court after Meta challenged the Italian communications authority AGCOM's power to set the compensation that online platforms should pay for using press articles.
Meta argued that such national measures are incompatible with rights already granted to publishers under the EU copyright legislation.
An Italian court subsequently sought guidance from the CJEU.
Case Reference
The case is C-797/23 Meta Platforms Ireland (Fair compensation).
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee;Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
