Amendment copyright It was finally adopted by parliament in late July and signed by the president in mid-August. Following protests by filmmakers and traditional publishers (the latter held an action in early July under the slogan “Politicians! Don’t kill the Polish media!”), the law included provisions allowing them to demand fees for the use of their content by online platforms. In the case of films and series, this primarily concerns streaming platforms, and in the case of media – including: on Google and Metaplatforms.
What changes does the amendment to the press law make?
As we have already reported, the amendments to the Press Act implement the directives of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) of 17 April 2019 into the Polish legal system. The first, called the SATCAB II directive, is intended to create conditions for the wider dissemination in the Member States of television and radio programmes originating from other Member States. The second, called the DSM directive, was the EU’s response to the challenges related to the development of digital technologies in the area of copyright.
The regulation introduces, among others: new forms of fair use of works, objects of related rights and databases (text and data mining, reproduction for the preservation of cultural heritage collections) and significantly modifies the forms already existing in EU legislation (use of works for distance learning purposes).
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The law regulates issues related to, among others: the unification of licensing rules for retransmission and distribution services of radio and television programs made available by direct introduction.
Fair use for scientific, teaching and collection preservation purposes, an extended collective license, a new related right for press publishers and a new form of fair use for databases covered by the Law of 27 July 2001 on the protection of databases were also introduced.
The law introduces provisions specifying the need to guarantee authors fair remuneration, appropriate to the scope of the right granted, the nature and scope of the use and the benefits resulting from the use of the work. Co-creators of an audiovisual work and performing artists shall be entitled, among others, to: adequate remuneration for making the work publicly available, so that everyone can access it at a place and time of their choosing, as well as adequate remuneration for the retransmission of the work.
The amendment introduces several practical changes:
– the possibility of mediation between publishers and digital platforms regarding the determination of remuneration for the use of journalistic content,
– royalties for creators for showing films and series on the Internet (so-called streaming royalties),
– introduction of a new related right for press publishers to use journalistic content digitally,
– unification of the rules on the liability of online content-sharing service providers for copyright infringements.
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Facebook’s response: links to less visible publishers
With the entry into force of the amendment In Poland, Facebook has changed the way it displays links to traditional publisher websites. Previously, the title, main image and the beginning of the text appeared together with the link. Now only the title is displayed.
The changes were introduced on Friday on the fan pages of many websites: both major horizontal portals, thematic sites (including Wirtualnemedia.pl) and regional and local sites. They first appeared in the Facebook mobile app, and many fan pages are also visible in the browser version.
In this situation Many websites more often use the previous solution to increase the visibility of their content on Facebook. The entry is accompanied by a graphic with a photo or the main thesis of the article (this graphic is not a link, so clicking on it does not take you to the text), while the link is placed in the content of the entry or the first comment below it.
Metaplatforms: Regulations in Poland inconsistent with the directive
In the message to users of the Meta Platforms, it is indicated that Art. Article 15 of the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 introduced new provisions on related legislation applicable to certain press publications.
The company explained that as the directive is implemented in EU member states, it “will evaluate these regulations and determine the best strategy for its users, publishers and the entire Facebook platform, taking into account new local obligations.” – Poland has implemented its own interpretation of Article 15 in its local legislation which came into force on 20 September 2024. However, the implementation in Poland is not consistent with the scope or terms of Article 15, resulting in confusion about the application of the new legislation. – says Meta Platforms.
– This is a temporary approach pending guidance on the scope of Article 15 from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) with regard to similar enforcement rules in Italy. We will publish updates as soon as the CJEU provides further clarification, the company notes.
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In its press release, Meta Platforms emphasizes that the links are published on Facebook by the publishers themselves, “as newsrooms benefit from redirected traffic and gain new audiences”.
-JAt the same time, informational content does not engage our users and is not a significant source of revenue for us. As previously reported, globally, links to news articles account for less than 3% of what people see in News Feed.and the information we receive from users shows that they do not want political content to dominate what they see on Facebook, the company notes.
Facebook is by far the most popular social media platform in Poland. As we recently described, in July 2024 it attracted 24.53 million users (i.e. 82.61% of all Polish Internet users), each for an average of 14 hours, 41 minutes and 21 seconds (according to the Mediapanel study).
