Facebook Inks Deal With French Publishers To Pay For News Content - Forbes

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Topline

Facebook has signed a deal with a French lobby group that represents 300 French publishers to pay for news content circulating on its users’ feeds, multiple outlets reported Thursday, which comes as publishers worldwide have raised the need for the social media giant to compensate for their content that generates advertising revenue for Facebook.

Key Facts

The copyright deal was made between Facebook and the Alliance de la Presse d’Information Generale, which represents hundreds of French publishers such as Le Monde, according to the Associated Press.

Facebook said the agreement aims to “improve the quality” of information circulating on its platform, the Associated Press reported.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, according to the Guardian.

According to the Associated Press, France was the first among 27 EU nations to implement the bloc’s copyright rules updated in 2019, which requires digital platforms to compensate news publishers for previews of news content.

Key Background

The latest deal comes amid an ongoing power struggle between publishers and digital platforms. Publishers worldwide are pushing for Facebook and tech platforms to pay for news content that delivers a large chunk of ad revenue for digital platforms, which has ultimately chipped away at news publishers’ ad revenue. According to theWall Street Journal, Facebook and Google’s stance on the issue is that they help bring traffic to publishers. Tech platforms also claim compensating for news content shown online goes against the “principles of open linking,” the Journal said.

Big Number

$28.58 billion. That was Facebook’s ad revenue in the second quarter of this year, up 56% from the same period last year. Price per ad rose 47%, according to Reuters.

Tangent

In February, Australia passed a law requiring digital platforms to compensate publishers for news content. Before the passage of the bill, Facebook had prohibited news content on its platform in that country for a week in response to the Australian government’s plan to make tech giants pay for news content.