US tech giant Google and French publishers have inked an agreement aimed at facilitating digital copyright remunerations to pay publishers for their online content, it was reported on Thursday.
The deal was struck between the Alliance de la presse d'information générale (APIG), a French publishers' organisation, and the California-based tech firm, and involves daily publication volumes, internet traffic each month and "contribution to political and general information," according to a joint press statement.
— Sebastien Missoffe (@SebMissoffe) January 21, 2021
"We are announcing today an agreement with Alliance Presse on the remuneration of neighbouring rights under French Law. [This is] an important step that reaffirms our commitment to press editors and opens up new prospects for our partners," Sebastien Missoffe, Google France director-general tweeted on Thursday.
'Neighbouring rights' will urge payments for showing news content in internet searches, the statement read.
What's In The New Deal?
The agreement will seek to resolve negotiations on individual licence agreements with newspaper on copyright payments as well as offer access to Google's News Showcase programme, according to AFP.
The report added only a few individual agreements had been signed between Google and French publications prior to the deal. Payments for media content would be tallied based on internet views and amount of published content, among others.
The deal comes after Google and Amazon were fined €100m for breaching national internet privacy laws, namely placing "advertising cookies on the computers of users ... without obtaining prior consent and without providing adequate information".
