Key developments in European media policy

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Here is an excerpt from the European Media Policy newsletter with some of the important things going on in the EU:

EU policies for influencers might be on the way

A working party in the Council of the European Union had agreed on suggested measures to address the behaviour of online influencers, according to Euractiv. The conclusions of the Audiovisual and Media Working Party, dated 5 April, invite the Commission and member states to develop policies and instruments to regulate online influencers. The document still must be politically approved to become a formal call for legislation.

A screening conducted by the European Commission and consumer authorities of 22 member states plus Norway and Iceland in February found, for example, that online influencers rarely disclose commercial content. According to the screening, which studied social media posts of 572 influencers, 97% posted commercial content and only 20% systematically disclose that their content is advertising. More on that investigation here.

More information:
Final draft of Council working group conclusions calls for “policies and instruments” for influencers

Quarter billion euro fine for Google for disrespecting copyright

The French antitrust authority, l’Autorité de la Concurrence, fined Google and Google’s parent company Alphabet 250 million euro on 20 March for failing to enact its commitments on related rights enshrined in EU’s copyright directive, reports Euractiv. 

It’s the authority’s fourth decision since the transposition of the directive in French legislation. It had previously fined Google with 500 million euro in 2021. The Autorité said that the new fine was given because Google disregarded most of its commitments to fairly compensate press publishers for content appearing on its search engine; failed to negotiate in good faith with news publishers; and used press agencies’ content to train its AI platform without their consent or possibility to opt-out. 

In the issue you can read more:

1. Media freedom

   • Final approval of European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) and anti-SLAPP

2. Disinformation

   • Guidelines for Big Tech presented ahead of EU elections

   • European parties sign code of conduct to combat disinformation 

   • Member states late to designate coordinators for Digital Services Act implementation 

3. Digital rights

   • EU policies for influencers might be on the way

4. Media economy

   • Quarter billion euro fine for Google for disrespecting copyright

   • New report on news deserts in Europe

5. Safety of journalists

   • Monitoring report on press freedom released

   • 2024 Council of Europe Report: Assessing the threats faced by journalists.
      

Read the full issue here:

European Media Policy, 2024, Issue 2

European Media Policy is a newsletter published by Nordicom and edited by Natacha López. The newsletter focuses specifically on developments in media policy at the European level, such as new proposals for legislation, debates in the European Parliament, recently taken or impending policy decisions, EU studies in the field, and so forth.

• Read previous issues of European Media Policy