Fair remuneration: the Regional Administrative Court dismisses Meta’s appeal

Meta loses its case at the Lazio Regional Administrative Court. And publishers are stepping up their campaign: the right to be paid for news used online must now become a reality. The administrative court has dismissed the tech giant’s appeal against the AGCOM regulation on fair remuneration for journalistic publications. This is further confirmation of the Italian model, following the ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union earlier this spring. The issue centres on the economic value of information in dealings with major platforms. The regulation, adopted in January 2023 to implement Article 43-bis of the Copyright Act, sets out the criteria for determining publishers’ remuneration. The approach is one of private negotiation. If no agreement is reached, AGCOM may intervene to resolve the dispute. There is therefore no automatic, blanket payment: remuneration is linked to the actual use of the publications.

Meta had challenged this regulatory framework. The legal dispute had held up proceedings and negotiations, which were at risk of being rejected by the EU. The Court of Justice of the European Union had recognised that the Italian legislation was compatible with EU law. Now, according to the FIEG, which has expressed ‘great satisfaction’ with the ruling, the Regional Administrative Court has confirmed that the legislation also complies with constitutional provisions. “This decision strengthens publishers’ right to fair remuneration and helps to make the digital market fairer,” comments Andrea Riffeser Monti, president of FIEG. The front is broad: the Federation of Newspaper Publishers has initiated proceedings against Microsoft, Google, Meta, LinkedIn and X. And the dispute between Gedi and Meta had already led to a claim for nine million euros against the Menlo Park-based group.

The legal victory, however, does not settle the economic issue. “We now hope that this right will be fully and effectively implemented through the application of the AGCOM Regulation, in order to safeguard the value of information and pluralism,” says Riffeser.

‘It is a remarkable coincidence that this ruling has been handed down in the wake of the AGCOM conference held to mark the eightieth anniversary of the election of the Constituent Assembly, during which we reiterated in our discussions with the platforms that one of Italia’s and Europe’s priorities must be the safeguarding of freedom of information and pluralism, including in relation to AI, which is achieved by ensuring fair remuneration for publishers and journalists. ‘High-quality news is in everyone’s interest, including the platforms,’ says Massimiliano Capitanio, AGCOM Commissioner.