Facebook to pay French media for news content shown on users' feeds

The company said it inked the licensing agreement with the Alliance de la Presse d’Information Generale, which represents 300 French publishers, to “improve the quality of online information for Internet users and publishers on Facebook.”

Social media giant Facebook announced Thursday that it had reached an agreement with some French newspapers to pay for news content shared by its users, months after Google announced a similar accord, news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Facebook said the licensing agreement with the APIG alliance of national and regional newspapers "means that people on Facebook will be able to continue uploading and sharing news stories freely amongst their communities, whilst also ensuring that the copyright of our publishing partners is protected."

The company said it inked the licensing agreement with the Alliance de la Presse d’Information Generale, which represents 300 French publishers, to “improve the quality of online information for Internet users and publishers on Facebook.”

The financial terms weren’t disclosed.

Worth mentioning here is that news publishers struggling with declining print subscriptions have been expressing anger at the failure of Google particularly to give them a cut of the millions it makes from ads displayed alongside news stories.

In January, Google said it had reached a draft agreement with APIG to pay publishers for a selection of content shown in its searches, AFP reported.

Google signed a similar framework deal with the alliance this year, but talks over licensing payments bogged down, leading French regulators to slap Google with a hefty fine for not negotiating in good faith with publishers.

France was the first of the European Union’s 27 nations to adopt the bloc’s 2019 copyright directive, which outlines a way for publishers and news companies to strike licensing deals with online platforms.

Facebook said that, beside paying for French content, it would also launch a French news service, Facebook News, in January to "give people a dedicated space to access content from trusted and reputable news sources."