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

Newspapers including Le Figaro, Les Echos, Le Parisien, Le Monde, Courrier International, Huffington Post, and Le Nouvel Obs said in a statement that they were launching joint action against the social media company run by US billionaire Elon Musk.

The French media groups 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 this news agency, 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.

Last week, around 50 other mainly regional French media groups said they had filed legal action against Microsoft, another US digital giant.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2024