French newspapers sue X over unpaid content

Paris: Several leading French newspapers said Tuesday that they are suing social media platform X, accusing it of running their content without payment.

The joint action against the social media company run by US billionaire Elon Musk is being led by Le Figaro, Les Echos, Le Parisien, Le Monde, Telerama, Courrier International, Huffington Post, Malesherbes Publications and Le Nouvel Obs, they said in a statement.

They accuse the site formerly known as Twitter of violating so-called neighbouring rights, which under a European directive adopted into French law are due when social media platforms republish news content.

The newspapers, as well as AFP, had already asked for an emergency injunction against X, which they accuse of not negotiating.

On May 24, a Paris tribunal agreed with the media companies, and gave X two months to provide commercial data that would allow them to assess the income it earns from their content.

The social media site "has not yet complied" with this decision, "demonstrating its continued intent to avoid its legal obligations", the newspapers said, justifying their latest suit.
AFP