Les Echos-Le Parisien Desists Lawsuit Against Elon Musk’s X
Les Echos-Le Parisien Desists Lawsuit Against Elon Musk’s X
In 2024, certain publications approached the court requesting compensation for the unpaid-for content on the social media platform
Louis Vuitton-Moët-Hennessy (LVMH)-owned newspaper group Les Echos-Le Parisien has decided not to join a lawsuit involving French media against Elon Musk's X and will not sue the platform.
In November last, Les Echos-Le Parisien and French newspapers, including publications owned by Le Monde and Le Figaro had stated filing a lawsuit to pressure X to compensate them for the unpaid-for content on the social media platform.
Under the European Union's copyright and related rights, the fees ensure that journalistic content remains available on digital platforms while offering publishers financial stability.
Pursuing the lawsuit would have pitted LVMH and its controlling shareholder and CEO, Bernard Arnault against Musk, the world's richest man and a key ally of US President Donald Trump.
Arnault had attended Trump's inauguration. He had praised a "wind of optimism" blowing through the US, following Trump's election and expressed support for Musk's role in the White House.
The business baron stated that France "should do like the US, and appoint somebody to cut down on bureaucracy."
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Les Echos (France's leading daily business newspaper) and Le Parisien (news daily), said, "We have indeed made such a threat against X in the past. Other discussions have been held since then.”
In May 2022, the three media groups won a fast-track court order compelling X to release traffic data and advertising revenues. It allowed the newspapers to assess compensation for their content.
Recently, Le Monde and Figaro had filed the case.
Earlier, Les Echos-Le Parisien CEO Pierre Louette stated, "Just like any other platform that generates traffic and revenue from the paper's content, X must comply with the EU copyright rules. It's a question of safeguarding quality information, the very foundation of our democracy.”
In 2021, French publishers including Les Echos-Le Parisien had won a similar case before France's competition watchdog against Alphabet's Google. They struck a deal with Meta on similar concerns.
Les Echos-Le Parisien was part of a group of papers that recently announced a similar lawsuit against Microsoft's LinkedIn platform.
LVMH bought Les Echos in 2007 before taking over general news daily Le Parisien in 2015. In 2024, it took over Paris Match, a well-known weekly magazine covering politics, entertainment and celebrities. The conglomerate also owns a French radio station.
