Google agrees 5-year deal to pay AFP for on-line content material: executives 

Google and Agence France-Presse on Wednesday stated they’d signed a “pioneering” five-year deal below which the world’s largest web search firm can pay an undisclosed sum for content material in Europe.

The settlement, following 18 months of negotiations, is the primary by a news agency below the 2019 European directive on so-called neighbouring rights, on the coronary heart of a number of disputes between net giants and the media over cost to be used of on-line news and different content material.

“This is an agreement that covers the whole of the EU, in all of AFP’s languages, including in countries that have not enacted the directive,” stated AFP CEO Fabrice Fries, describing the deal as “pioneering” and the “culmination of a long struggle”.

AFP produces and distributes multimedia content material to its purchasers in six languages world wide.

After initially being reluctant to pay French newspapers for the usage of their content material, Google lastly signed a three-year framework settlement with among the nation’s press in early 2021, however was fined 500 million euros ($566 million) by the competitors authority in mid-July for having failed to barter “in good faith“.

Google has appealed, and is continuous talks to succeed in a brand new settlement.

‘Common floor’

AFP has fought for information businesses to be totally eligible to profit from neighbouring rights agreements, Fries stated. Wednesday’s deal “will contribute to the production of quality information and the development of innovation within the agency”, he added.

“This agreement with Agence France-Presse demonstrates our willingness to find common ground with publishers and press agencies in France on the topic of neighbouring rights,” stated Sebastien Missoffe, Google’s basic supervisor in France. The pact “paves the way for even closer collaboration”, he added.

Under the agreement AFP may even provide fact-checking coaching on a number of continents, particulars of which might be introduced quickly, the businesses stated in an announcement.

Global tech giants—largely American—have run into a variety of disputes with Brussels and EU member states, over taxation, abuse of their dominant market energy, privacy issues and of earning profits from journalistic content material with out sharing the income.

To deal with this the EU directive created the type of copyright known as neighbouring rights that will enable shops to demand compensation to be used of their content material.

Facebook introduced a number of agreements in October, together with one that gives for 2 years’ remuneration to French information media for the usage of their content material, in addition to for his or her participation in Facebook News, which Facebook will deploy in France in January 2022.

In France and Denmark, media teams joined forces to barter with tech giants, whereas in Spain Google introduced on November 3 that it will reopen its Google News service in early 2022.

In Australia, a regulation has been handed to oblige tech giants to pay the media for utilizing their content material.

© 2021 AFP