INDUSTRIES, MEDIA | AGCOM fines video sharing platform for failure to pay revenues to artists

On 11 June 2025 the Italian Communications Authority (AGCOM) issued a fined to Google Ireland Limited (Google) for failing to comply with the provisions of Articles 22 and 23 of Legislative Decree No. 35 of 15 March 2017 (Legislative Decree) which transported Directive 2014/26/EU (Barnier Directive) into national law. The case originated from a complaint filed by the collecting society Nuovo IMAIE, alleging that Google (a) had not acted in good faith or with sufficient transparency when negotiating an agreement on equitable remuneration under Article 84 of the Italian Copyright Law, and (b) more specifically, has failed inter alia to provide data related to the revenues of the YouTube Premium service (deemed necessary to negotiate a license agreement for the payment of royalties to authors and performers), even if the economic offers it advanced were unilaterally determined and had a lump-sum nature. With this significant decision AGCOM upheld Nuovo IMAIE’s claim, holding that (a) providing economic data on revenues generated by the relevant services can be crucial when a lump-sum agreement is under discussion, considering that it is the only objective benchmark that enables a collecting society to assess the adequacy of an offer (by contrast, in a percentage-based model, disclosure of turnover data is not required pre-contractually under Article 22 of the Legislative Decree); and (b) while the obligations of Article 23 of the Legislative Decree normally apply post-licensing, in the field of neighbouring rights – often exploited before an agreement is signed – data exchange is also required at the pre-contractual stage. AGCOM stressed that this is necessary to guarantee fairness, good faith, objectivity and reasonableness in negotiations, given that performers, lacking the power to block use of their repertoire once exclusive rights are assigned to producers, depend entirely on agreements with collecting societies for remuneration. This decision represents an important step in shaping the obligations of platforms and may have implications for other providers as well.

Newsletter n. 110 – August/September 2025