French regulator orders Meta to resume news payment talks

France's competition authority has ordered Meta Platforms to resume negotiations with French news publishers and present a payment plan for the use of their content, stating the company's approach likely constitutes an abuse of its dominant position. The order, issued on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, gives Meta 15 days to provide the details of its payment plan and the necessary information for publishers to assess the proposed remuneration.

The dispute centers on European "neighbouring rights" rules, which allow press publishers to seek payment when online platforms reuse their content. The complaints were lodged by two French media associations, the Société des Droits Voisins de la Presse (DVP) and l'Alliance de la Presse d'Information Générale (APIG), after previous agreements with Meta expired. The DVP agreement ended in December 2024 and the APIG deal ended in January 2025. Since those expirations, French media outlets have received no payment from Meta, despite their content continuing to be distributed on the company's services, a situation the authority said has caused financial harm to the publishers.

The regulator criticized Meta for attempting to impose its own method for...