Swiss government favors compensation for journalistic ‘snippets’ published by online services – Winnipeg Free Press

GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland’s executive branch says it supports changes to copyright law to require large online service providers, including social media platforms and search engines, to pay copyright companies. media companies for their use of their journalistic content, including small excerpts known as “snippets”.

The Federal Council, Switzerland’s executive body, announced on Wednesday that it had opened a four-month review of a proposed legal change to improve compensation for journalists and their media companies.

The government noted the importance of public debate in a democracy, which has now largely moved online.

“The content offered by search engines, social networks and multimedia platforms is largely based on journalistic works from traditional editorial media,” said a government statement. Brief previews of journalistic content, or “snippets”, are currently not protected by Swiss copyright law.

He said that media companies and journalists do not receive any remuneration from the online service companies that use their work. The establishment of the rates of such compensation would have to be elaborated among the players of the industry.

“The Federal Council proposes that large online service providers be required to pay media companies for the use of snippets,” the government said. “For example, if a large search engine displays snippets of newspaper articles in its search results, the online service provider will have to pay remuneration for this in the future.

Only the largest online services, which attract an annual number of users representing at least 10 percent of Switzerland’s population, would be required to pay such compensation. Switzerland’s population was about 8.8 million at the end of last year.

The Swiss government pointed to changes abroad, including a directive from the European Union, which does not count Switzerland among its 27 member states, that helped media companies defend their interests regarding online services.