Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault Once Discussed Potential SpaceX-Louis Vuitton Collab. The French Billionaire's Media Group Has Now Sued X Over Alleged Unpaid Content Use

Several prominent French media organizations, including those owned by billionaire Bernard Arnault, have filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s social media platform X for allegedly using their content without compensation.

What Happened: The media groups, which include Arnault’s Les Echos and Le Parisien, have taken legal action against the social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, for violating “neighboring rights,” a European directive adopted into French law, reported The Guardian.

Under this law, social media platforms are required to pay media organizations when they republish news content. The media companies had previously sought an emergency injunction against the platform, which they claim has not been negotiated.

The Paris Tribunal, in agreement with the media companies, had given the platform two months to provide commercial data that would allow the outlets to assess the income the platform earns from their content. The platform has allegedly not complied with this decision, prompting the latest lawsuit.

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Why It Matters: This legal dispute is the latest in a series of challenges faced by tech giants in Europe. France, in particular, has been at the forefront of the battle to protect the publishing rights and revenue of its press and news agencies against the dominance of powerful tech companies.

The EU has introduced neighboring rights, a form of copyright that allows news media to demand compensation for the use of their content. France was the first EU country to enact this directive in 2019, and after initial resistance, Google and Facebook agreed to pay some French media for articles shown in web searches.

Despite this, Musk’s social media platform has contested its obligation to adhere to the neighboring rights directive, arguing that it is not subject to the same rules as Google or Facebook as it relies on user-generated content.

Arnault, the CEO of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, and Musk have had several interactions in the past. In 2023, the two billionaires met for a power lunch in Paris, and in 2024, Arnault discussed the potential of a Louis Vuitton-branded rocket with SpaceX.

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This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Kaustubh Bagalkote