The 'French Press': Google, Publishers' Alliance Strike Digital Media Payout Deal Amid Royalties Row

The news comes after media outlets voiced concerns in recent years over Google's failure to share ad profits in online searches as well as plummeting revenues due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

The agreement would amount to "effective recognition of neighbouring rights for the press and the start of their remuneration by digital platforms for the use of their publications online," APIG chief Pierre Louette said in a statement.

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".

Several of Europe's largest news agencies slammed Google and Facebook in September 2018 for "plundering" news for free, adding they should share revenues with news sources. Representatives of roughly 20 agencies, including Agence France-Press (AFP), Germany's Deutsche Press-Agentur and others demanded European lawmakers to tackle the issue.