EU Court upholds Italy’s right to demand compensation from Meta for use of news content

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that Italian media regulator AGCOM has the right to require Meta to pay publishers compensation for the use of news excerpts on digital platforms.

The decision, in case C-797/23, is the first time that the EU’s highest court has explicitly ruled on the right of member states to oblige big tech companies to pay media outlets for the use of journalistic content.

The court stressed that the right of publishers of press publications to “fair remuneration” is permissible under EU law.

What the Italian model entails

The case was referred to Luxembourg from Italy after AGCOM introduced a special regulatory model for digital platforms in 2023.

Under it, companies such as Meta and Google are required to negotiate with publishers on compensation for the use of journalistic material online.

The Italian regulator also gained the right to:

determine the mechanism for calculating fair remuneration;

to intervene in the event of a breakdown in negotiations;
to require platforms to provide data necessary to assess the real value of content.

The latter point was one of the key points in the dispute between Meta and the Italian authorities.

The court upheld the right to require data from platforms

Meta argued that such a model contradicts EU law and creates excessive interference in the activities of platforms.

However, the Court of Justice of the EU concluded that the Italian system complies with the provisions of the 2019 EU Copyright Directive.

The court paid particular attention to AGCOM’s right to require information on the use of content. The decision notes that access to such data is a necessary condition for fair negotiations between platforms and publishers.

Meta may repeat the Canadian scenario

The European Publishers Council called the decision “critically important” for the protection of the media industry, especially against the backdrop of the active use of journalistic content by artificial intelligence systems.

Meta has already stated that it is studying the court’s decision. The company has previously repeatedly criticized the requirements for payment for the use of news materials, stating that this could harm the open internet.

A similar conflict has already arisen in Canada, where Meta, in response to the new rules, completely removed news from Facebook and Instagram instead of paying media compensation.

The decision could affect the entire EU

Although the decision of the Court of Justice of the EU is preliminary, the case returns to the Italian courts for the practical application of the legal position.

In fact, this means that the AGCOM model remains in force, and Meta’s possibilities to challenge the principle of payments itself are significantly narrowed.

For Italy, this decision was confirmation of the correctness of the chosen regulatory model, which is being closely watched by other EU countries.

Previously, similar mechanisms had already been introduced by France, Spain and Germany, but it is the Italian model with the central role of AGCOM that has now received official approval from the European court.