France’s competition watchdog on Wednesday accused Facebook and Instagram owner Meta of causing “serious and immediate harm” by failing to compensate French media for content it republished.It ordered the US tech giant to negotiate with major newspapers and news agencies to pay so-called neighboring rights, which, under a 2019 European directive adopted into French law, occur when social media platforms republish news content.Two groups called APIG and DVP – which represent hundreds of media outlets, including AFP – petitioned France’s competition authority after they said Meta failed to renew neighboring rights contracts due at the beginning of 2025 and the end of 2024 respectively.The authority “considered that Meta’s practices were likely to constitute an abuse of a dominant position and would cause serious and immediate harm to the press sector,” it said.The issue of neighboring rights has poisoned relations between the French press and big tech companies in recent years. Agreements were signed with Meta in 2021 and Google in 2022. Some were framework agreements, and others individual arrangements. But in 2024, the French competition authority fined Google ₹250 million, accusing it of failing to meet some of its commitments.Meta last month criticized an Australian draft law aimed at tech giants compensating local publishers for sharing articles that drive traffic to their platforms.