Italy's Antitrust authority said
Wednesday that it had opened a probe into social-media giant
Meta in relation to music publishing rights.
The case regards the recent breakdown in negotiations with
Italian copyright-collecting agency SIAE to renew a contract on
music rights and the subsequent removal from Meta's platforms of
content protected by the agency, including on Instagram, which
is highly popular with young people.
The authority said it is looking into whether Meta abused the
SIAE's economic dependence on its contract with it, taking
advantage of the imbalance in bargaining positions to try to get
the agency to accept an inadequate offer for the rights and
failing to provide the necessary information for the offer to be
properly assessed.
The Antitrust said the probe regarded Meta Platform, Meta
Platforms Ireland, Meta Platforms Technologies UK Limited and
Facebook Italy.
"We are totally satisfied because the authority agreed with the
SIAE's position and evaluated as undue the interruption of the
negotiation by Meta, in breach of the rules regarding abuse of
economic dependency," said SIAE President Salvatore Nastasi,.
"At the same time, the authority has launched a precautionary
urgent procedure which should lead to the reactivation, without
hesitation, of the talks that Meta unilaterally broke off.
"This will enable us to sit around the table for talks with the
American giant on equal terms".
Meta said that it was "ready to cooperate to respond to the
requests of the competition and market authority.
"Protecting the copyrights of composers and artists is an
absolute priority for us, which is why we remain committed to
reaching an agreement with the SIAE that satisfies all parties,"
a spokesperson said.
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