CJEU: Italy was allowed to say to platforms such as Meta: “You cannot use press publications online, refuse meaningful negotiation, hide the data needed to calculate value, or reduce visibility...

2025-11-28 · Source: Pascal’s Substack · Field: Legal & Regulatory — Intellectual Property & Patents, Regulatory Affairs & Government Relations, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning · Depth: Intermediate, medium

Summary

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has issued a significant ruling in Case C-797/23, Meta Platforms Ireland, affirming that EU Member States can mandate platforms like Meta to negotiate with press publishers, provide value-related data, and accept regulatory oversight for online use of press publications. This judgment allows national authorities, such as Italy's AGCOM, to establish enforcement mechanisms around the press publishers' right, including fair remuneration and negotiation duties. While the ruling does not guarantee automatic payment for every online use, it empowers publishers by requiring platforms to disclose information necessary for valuation and preventing visibility reduction as a negotiation tactic. The decision acknowledges the bargaining power imbalance and data asymmetry between platforms and publishers, linking publisher remuneration to media pluralism and democratic public interest.

Key takeaway

For CTOs and VPs of Engineering evaluating content licensing strategies, this CJEU ruling signals a shift towards more regulated and transparent digital content markets. Your teams should prepare for potential national legislation requiring data disclosure, mandatory negotiation, and anti-retaliation measures when using copyrighted press publications. Proactively integrate audit rights, usage reporting, and clear remuneration frameworks into future contracts, especially with AI platforms, to mitigate legal and financial risks associated with content utilization.

Key insights

Copyright rights are insufficient without robust enforcement mechanisms, transparency, and fair bargaining power.

Principles

• Partial EU harmonization allows national implementation strengthening.
• States can mandate negotiation duties for copyright enforcement.
• Data asymmetry justifies disclosure requirements for fair valuation.

Method

Member States can establish regulatory frameworks requiring platforms to negotiate, disclose value-related data, and refrain from visibility reduction during negotiations to ensure fair remuneration for press publishers.

In practice

• Argue for national laws that operationalize press publishers' rights.
• Incorporate judgment logic into platform negotiations for data disclosure.
• Build evidence systems to track content use and value.

Topics

• CJEU Ruling
• Press Publishers' Right
• Platform Bargaining Power
• Data Asymmetry
• Fair Remuneration

Best for: CTO, VP of Engineering/Data, Executive, Legal Professional, Policy Maker, Director of AI/ML

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by Pascal’s Substack.