EU court backs Italy on publisher payments from Meta content use

The European Union’s top court has backed Italy’s approach to forcing platforms to compensate publishers when news content is reused online, a ruling that could strengthen Europe’s campaign to make Meta and other tech giants pay for journalism they distribute and monetize.

In case C-797/23, Meta Platforms Ireland (Fair compensation), the Court of Justice of the European Union said member states may adopt support measures to make press-publisher rights effective, so long as those measures do not undermine freedom of contract. The dispute arose after Meta challenged Italy’s telecoms regulator, AGCOM, over the compensation it set for the online use of press content and over the national rules behind that system.

The case sits at the center of a broader European push to narrow the gap between news production and digital distribution. Italy gave AGCOM expanded copyright powers through its 2021 implementation of the EU Copyright Directive, and AGCOM adopted Regulation No. 3/23/CONS in January 2023 to set criteria for fair compensation to publishers when online platforms use journalistic publications. The regulator has described that framework as a response to the digital value gap between publishers and the services that benefit from their reporting.

AGCOM’s July 10, 2025 decision in the Meta-GEDI dispute was its first order involving a social network. The authority said it based compensation on Meta’s advertising revenues tied to the use of GEDI journalism on Facebook, then deducted traffic-redirection benefits before applying a rate of up to 70 percent. Italian business press reported the amount at more than 9 million euros for 2022 use, while GEDI had sought about 30 million euros, including Instagram, and Meta had offered less than 40,000 euros.

That gap captures the stakes for publishers across Europe. A 2024 AGCOM ruling involving Microsoft and Bing, reported at 730,000 euros over two years, suggested the Italian system can produce meaningful payments even when the sums vary sharply by platform and product. The CJEU’s ruling did not fix a price, but it did validate the idea that governments can help create leverage where individual publishers often lack it.

Advocate General Maciej Szpunar had already pointed in that direction in his July 10, 2025 opinion, saying member states may adopt support measures if they do not undermine freedom of contract and warning that the digital revolution has sharply reduced publishers’ revenues. For Italy and other European regulators, the decision offers a stronger legal footing. For Meta, it means the fight over news payments is no longer just about traffic and reach, but about whether platform power can be matched by law.