Meta loses landmark EU copyright case over publisher payments for news snippets in Italy

Meta just lost a major copyright fight in Europe, and the ruling could reshape how tech companies use news content online and for AI systems.

Europe’s top court on Tuesday backed an Italian regulator in a closely watched case involving Meta and publisher compensation, handing news organizations a win in their long-running battle with Big Tech over the use of journalistic content.

The ruling centers on whether platforms like Facebook can display snippets of news articles without paying publishers. It arrives at a time when media companies, authors, and regulators across Europe and the United States are pushing harder against AI firms and internet platforms accused of profiting from copyrighted material without proper compensation.

The Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union said publishers are entitled to fair compensation when their content is used online.

“The Court finds that ⁠a right to fair compensation for publishers is consistent with EU law, provided that remuneration constitutes consideration for authorizing their publications to be used online,” the court said.

The dispute began after Meta challenged an order from Italy’s communications authority, AGCOM, which sought to establish rules for how online platforms compensate publishers for using excerpts from news articles. Meta argued that Italy’s approach conflicted with rights already covered under broader EU copyright law.

An Italian court later asked the EU’s highest court to weigh in.

Meta said it would continue engaging with regulators as the case heads back to the Italian courts.

“We will review the decision in full and engage constructively as the matter returns to the Italian courts,” a Meta spokesperson said, according to a report from Reuters.

A bigger fight over AI, copyright, and news content

The case comes just a week after Meta faced a fresh copyright lawsuit alleging the tech giant used pirated books to train its Llama AI models.

It lands in the middle of a growing global clash between publishers and AI companies over copyrighted material used for training large language models.

Media companies and authors have filed lawsuits against firms including OpenAI and Anthropic, accusing them of using protected works without permission or payment. At the same time, regulators in Europe have been pushing tech giants to negotiate licensing agreements with publishers whose content drives traffic and engagement across digital platforms.

News organizations argue that platforms have built massive businesses on top of journalism produced at significant cost, then returned only a fraction of the value to publishers.

The European Publishers Council welcomed Tuesday’s ruling and called it a win for journalism and media freedom.

“This ⁠important ruling will pave the way for fairer negotiations with gatekeepers which have been abusing their dominance by refusing to negotiate in good faith. Quality journalism depends on the ability ⁠of publishers to recoup the investments required to produce trusted news and information,” said Angela Mills Wade, executive director at the European Publishers Council.

“The Court has ⁠recognized that this objective is not only economically legitimate, but also closely linked to media freedom and pluralism in democratic societies,” she added.

The case, officially listed as C-797/23 Meta Platforms Ireland (Fair compensation), could strengthen the hand of publishers across Europe seeking licensing payments from large tech platforms and AI companies using copyrighted material at scale.