France orders Meta to resume payment talks with publishers over news content

France's competition authority has directed Meta Platforms to restart negotiations with French media publishers over payments for the use of their news content, marking the latest regulatory challenge for the technology giant in Europe, as per a Reuters report.In a decision announced on Wednesday, the French antitrust watchdog said Meta must submit details of a revised remuneration proposal within 15 days after finding that the company's current approach to calculating payments could amount to an abuse of its dominant market position.The dispute centres on the European Union's "neighbouring rights" framework, which allows news publishers to seek compensation when their journalistic content is used on digital platforms.Negotiations between Meta and two French press associations—DVP and APIG, whose members include leading newspapers such as Les Echos and Le Monde—stalled after their previous agreement expired in 2024. Since then, publishers have not received payments, with both sides failing to reach consensus on how compensation should be calculated.According to the competition authority, the issue is not that Meta refused to negotiate, but rather that the negotiations were conducted without sufficient transparency. The regulator said the company had declined to consider alternative methods for calculating payments and had not shared the data required for publishers to assess those proposals.Also read: EU court rejects Apple's challenge to Digital Markets Act gatekeeper designationThe watchdog's intervention is part of a broader wave of disputes between technology companies and news organisations over compensation for digital content. Similar disagreements have emerged across several markets as publishers seek payment for content displayed on online platforms and, increasingly, for material that may be used in training artificial intelligence systems.The case adds to mounting regulatory scrutiny of large technology companies in Europe, where authorities have intensified enforcement of competition rules and digital market regulations aimed at strengthening the bargaining position of publishers and other content creators.The company is now required to present a revised payment methodology as discussions with French publishers resume under the regulator's oversight.