Chesnot/Getty Images; Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
- Agence France-Presse is taking legal action against Twitter related to payment for sharing news.
- It accused Elon Musk's platform of a "clear refusal" to discuss compensation.
- Google was fined 500 million euros in 2021 for failing to negotiate renumeration "in good faith."
Twitter, now known as X, is facing another lawsuit — this time from the world's oldest news agency, Agence France-Press.
AFP said in a Wednesday press release that it has taken legal action after X's "clear refusal" to discuss payment for distributing news content.
The news agency is hoping a Paris court will order an injunction forcing X to hand over "all the necessary elements required for assessing the remuneration."
The dispute relates to a French copyright law called "neighboring rights" which was enacted in 2019. It says news publishers are entitled to payment from digital platforms which reproduce its work.
Google was fined 500 million euros in 2021 — the largest fine given by the French Competition Authority — for not respecting measures requiring it to negotiate compensation with the press "in good faith," Euronews reported.
"This is bizarre," Elon Musk said of AFP's legal action in an X post. "They want us to pay *them* for traffic to their site where they make advertising revenue and we don't!?"
Twitter did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
"As a leading advocate for the adoption of neighbouring rights for the press, AFP remains unwavering in its commitment to the cause, even four years after the law's adoption," the news agency said.
"The Agency will continue to employ the appropriate legal means with each relevant platform to ensure the fair distribution of the value generated by the sharing of news content."
AFP's lawsuit comes the day after Meta turned off news availability in Canada in response to a new law requiring tech companies to pay media organizations if they host Canadian news on their platforms.