News company Agence France-Presse (AFP) has sued the Elon Musk’s X, previously known as Twitter, over copyright as it tries to force the social media platform to pay the news outlet in exchange for displaying its content.

As a country in the European Union, France is covered by “neighbouring rights” which is a system where companies such as Google and Facebook pay some news organisations for sharing their content. However, X has not entertained the matter.

AFP said in a statement it had lodged a case with a judge in Paris to force the platform to hand over data that would allow the French news agency to
estimate a fair level of compensation. “As a leading advocate for the adoption of neighbouring rights for the press, AFP remains unwavering in its commitment to the cause,” the statement said.

“The Agency will continue to employ the appropriate legal means with each relevant platform to ensure the fair distribution of the value generated by
the sharing of news content,” it added.

Meta blocked users of Facebook and Instagram in Canada from seeing posts from news organisations this week over a law that mandates
compensation for the content. Google has threatened to take similar action.
Meta and Google also opposed similar proposals in Australia.