Elon Musk's X Ordered by French Court to Disclose Revenue Data to Media Companies

A Paris court ruled on Thursday that Elon Musk's X must disclose details to French media companies on how much it earns from publishing their content as part of a legal dispute over rights payments.

French Court Orders X to Disclose Details About Revenue Generation From Media Content

According to AFP, the court's ruling, arising from a lawsuit involving a dozen media entities such as Le Monde, Le Figaro, and AFP, revolved around the demand for compensation under so-called neighboring rights.

This form of copyright, created by the EU in 2019, empowers print media to seek compensation for the utilization of their content. The social media platform is instructed to furnish the media outlets with various data within a stipulated timeframe, which include viewership statistics, click rates, and user engagement indicators such as retweets, likes, and shares.

X is also compelled to disclose the revenue accumulated in France from disseminating this content and provide more details about how its algorithms determine the publication of media content.

In the ruling, the court underscored the confidentiality of this information, which it deemed essential for a transparent evaluation of the compensation owed to the media under neighboring rights legislation.

French Media Outlets Laud the Court's Ruling

Legal representatives of the media outlets lauded the ruling as unprecedented, signaling an end to X's perceived obstructionism. X's legal team has yet to comment on the ruling.

During the proceedings last month, an X lawyer argued that the platform was not bound by neighboring rights law because it was the users posting content on the platform.

France's implementation of EU regulations about neighboring rights has been closely watched. Google and Facebook eventually agreed to pay certain French media outlets to display articles in web searches.

However, despite paying the media, AFP reported that Google was fined $270 million for not negotiating in good faith with news publishers. The tech giant also failed to respect some of its promises.

The court's decision was rendered through an expedited process, and the news outlets had to return to court for a ruling to compel X to pay.

AFP CEO Fabrice Fries perceived the ruling as a crucial advancement in upholding the new right honored in practice and an affirmation that X is subject to the law and must comply with the required rules.

Fries wrote on X: "The ruling confirms that X/Twitter is subject to neighboring rights for the media, and it forces the platform to provide information required by the law to determine the payments" due to media outlets."