Meta Loses Italian Publisher Pay Case at EU’s Top Court
May 13, 2026 – 8:14 am
The Court of Justice has ruled that Italy’s AGCOM can require Meta to pay publishers for news snippets, marking the first time the bloc’s top court has directly addressed this issue.
Meta lost its bid to overturn an Italian regulatory order compelling it to compensate publishers for using their news snippets after the Court of Justice of the European Union sided with Italy’s telecoms watchdog AGCOM in Case C-797/23 on Tuesday.
The ruling is a significant victory for publishers, as the EU’s top court confirmed that:
“The right of publishers of press publications to fair remuneration is permissible… provided that such remuneration constitutes consideration for the authorisation granted to providers to reproduce those publications or to make them available to the public.”
Publishers retain the right to refuse authorization or grant it free of charge.
This case originated in Italy, where AGCOM in 2023 introduced a model requiring Meta and Google, among others, to negotiate compensation with publishers for online use of their journalism. The decree empowered AGCOM to determine fair remuneration, intervene in unsuccessful negotiations, and request platform data related to content usage.
Meta challenged the implementation, arguing it clashed with EU law. Italian courts referred the matter upwards, leading to today’s ruling that aligns with the bloc’s 2019 copyright directive.
Critically, the court supported AGCOM’s authority to demand platforms share data needed to calculate fair compensation, addressing a key concern raised by publishers during negotiations.
The European Publishers Council hailed the decision as "crucial," noting it arrives at a time when AI-driven uses of journalistic content are on the rise.
Meta is reviewing the judgment and has previously argued against paying for links and snippets, taking similar stances in other disputes across Europe and Canada, where they removed news from Facebook and Instagram.