The European Union backs Italy's right to make Meta pay for news

"Italy had enacted EU copyright directives into national law in 2021, and in 2023, it granted AGCOM the authority to request traffic and advertising data from platforms related to news content, intervene in negotiations between publishers and platforms, and fine platforms that didn't comply with its orders. The law also allows AGCOM to define benchmarks for for fair compensation, while platforms only pay for news content they use and are not allowed to restrict the visibility of publishers' content during negotiations. Publishers have the right to refuse the use of their content or provide it for free."

"Meta claimed that EU copyright laws were meant to protect publisher content, not create "a regulator-backed bargaining system with mandatory negotiations, transparency obligations and penalties hanging over tech companies," according to Courthouse News Service. The Italian court referred the case to the CJEU, which heard the case in February 2025. The decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) found that EU copyright law doesn't prohibit individual countries from setting up systems that give news publishers power to negotiate compensation terms and regulatory bodies the authority to enforce national law."

"The ruling on Tuesday rejected those claims, saying the law was designed to allow publishers to charge for the use of their content, recoup the costs of news production, and preserve a free press. Meta must comply with Italian law requiring it to negotiate with and fairly compensate news publishers for the the use of their content, according to a ruling by the Europe's highest court on Tuesday."

Italy granted AGCOM authority to request traffic and advertising data from platforms related to news content, intervene in negotiations between publishers and platforms, and fine platforms that do not comply. The framework lets AGCOM define benchmarks for fair compensation. Platforms must pay for news content they use and cannot restrict publishers’ content visibility during negotiations. Publishers can refuse use of their content or provide it for free. Meta challenged the Italian rules after suing AGCOM in 2023, arguing EU copyright law did not permit a regulator-backed mandatory negotiation system. The CJEU ruled that EU copyright law does not prevent member states from creating systems that give publishers power to negotiate compensation and allow regulatory bodies to enforce national law.

Read at Nieman Lab