Alphabet Inc Agrees To Pay AFP For Google News Publishing License

JAKARTA - Alphabet Inc's parent company Google will start paying Agence France-Presse (AFP) for its news content as part of a five-year broad partnership announced on Wednesday November 17 that marks one of the biggest licensing deals the tech giant has reached under the law. New France.

News organizations, which have lost ad revenue from online aggregators such as Google and Facebook, have complained for years about technology companies using news in search results or other features without payment to the media.

New laws in France and Australia - driven by media lobbying and public pressure - have given publishers greater leverage, leading to many licensing deals around the world that are collectively worth billions of dollars.

The AFP deal follows France enacting a copyright law that creates "rights of neighbourhood," which requires big tech companies to open talks with news publishers seeking license payments.

Google declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal, but insisted it would run for five years. The companies said in a joint press release that they would also collaborate on projects, such as fact-checking.

"This agreement is a recognition of the value of information," Fabrice Fries, chief executive of Agence France-Presse, said in a statement.

Google earlier this year agreed to pay $76 million over three years to a group of 121 French news publishers, excluding AFP, Reuters previously reported. But the deal has been on hold pending the outcome of an antitrust process in which French competition regulator accused Google of failing to negotiate in good faith.

Sébastien Missoffe, managing director of Google France, said the deal with AFP demonstrates "the willingness of tech companies to find common ground with publishers."

The deal does not bring AFP to News Showcase, a feature Google launched last year that promotes content from more than 1,000 publishers who have agreed to license content for a fee.

Reuters also signed a News Showcase agreement with Google in January, and Wall Street Journal News Corp owner closed a similar deal a month later.

Facebook last month signed neighbor rights deals with a French alliance including dozens of publishers such as Le Figaro.

Meanwhile in Indonesia, the Indonesian government has not yet made such a rule. Practically when Google or other social media giants can become free aggregators without paying for the media that publish on their sites.