Google to pay French publishers for online content under new copyright agreement

Google has only signed individual agreements with a few publications so far, including national dailies Le Monde and Le Figaro.

In a first in Europe, Alphabet's Google and a group of French publishers said on Thursday they had agreed a general framework over copyrights under which the US tech giant will pay publishers for content online.

Google Australia and New Zealand Managing Director Mel Silva made her first public comments on the details of the proposed legislation since it was introduced to Parliament last week. (Reuters)

The principles agreed between the French publishers' lobby, Alliance de la presse d'information générale (APIG), and Google include criteria such as the daily volume of publications, monthly internet traffic and "contribution to political and general information," they said in a statement.

Google and APIG did not say how much money could be distributed under the agreement to APIG members, which include national and local publishers. Details on how the remuneration would be calculated under the criteria were not disclosed.

The announcement follows months of bargaining between Google, French publishers and news agencies over how to apply revamped EU copyright rules, which allow publishers to demand a fee from online platforms showing extracts of their news.