Google to pay French news publishers

Content deal `sets the precedent'

Google and a French publishers’ lobby said on Thursday they had agreed to a copyright framework for the U.S. tech giant to pay news publishers for content online, in a first for Europe.

The move paves the way for individual licensing agreements for French publications, some of which have seen revenues drop with the rise of the Internet and declines in print circulation.

The deal, which Google describes as a sustainable way to pay publishers, is likely to be closely watched by other platforms such as Facebook, a lawyer involved in the talks said.

Facebook was not immediately reachable for comment.

Alphabet-owned Google and the Alliance de la presse d'information générale (APIG) said in a statement that the framework included criteria such as the daily volume of publications, monthly internet traffic and “contribution to political and general information.”

Google has so far only signed licensing agreements with a few publications in France, including national daily newspapers Le Monde and Le Figaro. These take into account the framework agreed with APIG, a Google spokesman said.

Google's vehicle for paying news publishers, called Google News Showcase, is so far only available in Brazil and Germany.

Google and APIG did not say how much money would be distributed to APIG's members, who include most French national and local publishers. Details on how the remuneration would be calculated were not disclosed.

The deal follows months of bargaining between Google, French publishers and news agencies over how to apply revamped EU copyright rules, which allow publishers to demand a fee from online platforms showing extracts of their news.

John Hinds, chief executive of News Media Canada, a Canadian industry group that represents a number of publishers including Postmedia Network Canada Inc., publisher of the Financial Post, said Thursday's announcement in France was welcome.

“It sets the precedent and we hope the Canadian government will move quickly to implement a framework so that Canadian publishers can be paid for their content,” Hinds said. Google, the world's biggest search engine, initially fought against the idea of paying publishers for content, saying their websites benefited from the greater traffic it brought.

In September, Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault told the Financial Post that the Liberal government was monitoring jurisdictional developments in France and Australia.

On Thursday, Guilbeault's office released a statement saying the deal in France was “encouraging” and that it “will follow its outcomes with close attention.” “We recognize that Google and other major companies have played a key role in disseminating and democratizing news content and information over the last decades,” the statement from the Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage said. “However, there is a clear market imbalance between those who create content and those who benefit from it. To address this imbalance, one-off initiatives, such as those proposed by digital platforms, won't be enough.”