Overview
- France’s Autorité de la Concurrence ordered Meta to reopen negotiations on Wednesday, July 8, 2026 and said the company must set out details of a payment plan within 15 days.
- The regulator found that the way Meta calculates fees and its refusal to share the data needed for alternative methods were likely to amount to an abuse of its dominant position, Benoit Coeure said.
- Publishers say a 2021 deal that paid roughly €20 million a year expired in 2024 and that Meta’s renewal offer fell to about €4 million, leaving French media without agreed payments since the contract lapsed.
- Regulators have stronger leverage after a March 2024 €250 million fine for Google and a May 2026 Court of Justice of the EU ruling that backed national authorities’ power to compel talks with platforms.
- If Meta does not follow the order regulators could enforce negotiations or impose sanctions, a step that would affect publisher income and shape how platforms pay for news and reuse content for services such as AI training.