BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 2. Azerbaijan’s
media outlets are beginning to face a serious financial squeeze,
driven by global technology giants.


Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube and Google have captured
almost the entire advertising market in Azerbaijan. Thanks to their
technological capabilities, these platforms can keep advertising
rates low, leaving Azerbaijani media outlets with fewer
advertisers. At the same time, global tech giants use content
produced by Azerbaijani media without asking permission or paying
for it.


This problem is not unique to Azerbaijan; it affects media
markets worldwide. In Canada, for example, Google and Meta together
control around 80 percent of the entire advertising market.
Researchers at Columbia University have estimated how much news
journalism should be worth to tech giants under a fair system.
According to their calculations, Google and Meta should pay U.S.
publishers between $11.9 billion and $13.9 billion annually. This
is far more than they pay at present. Media outlets in Australia,
Canada and Europe are closing or cutting staff for much the same
reasons as those affecting the Azerbaijani press.


However, some countries have already found ways to address the
problem. In 2019, the European Union introduced so-called related
rights for publishers, requiring platforms to pay when they use
their content. France was the first country to apply this
provision, forcing Google to sign an agreement with an alliance of
French publishers. The company attempted to evade its obligations,
prompting French authorities to impose fines: 500 million euros in
2021 for failing to negotiate with news publishers in good faith,
followed by another 250 million euros in March 2024 for failing to
meet its commitments.







In 2021, Australia adopted a code requiring platforms to
negotiate with media outlets. As a result, Google and Meta signed
more than 30 agreements worth 200–250 million Australian dollars
annually. Australia is now going further by introducing a levy on
platforms that refuse to pay. Canada adopted its Online News Act in
2023, under which Google now pays Canadian media outlets 100
million Canadian dollars annually.


It is time for Azerbaijani media to take action. The main lesson
from France is that publishers lose when they act individually.
During negotiations with Google, independent outlets there openly
acknowledged that the company had taken advantage of their
fragmentation. In 2024, 32 media groups from 13 European countries,
including Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Hungary, joined
forces and filed a 2.1 billion euro lawsuit against Google in a
court in Amsterdam. This demonstrates that media outlets in even
relatively small countries can join forces to defend their rights
in foreign courts.


Azerbaijani media outlets, the Press Council, the Media
Development Agency and professional journalists’ associations need
to start working together. The priorities should include
calculating the actual losses, securing publishers’ rights in
legislation, negotiating collectively with platforms and, if
necessary, taking legal action, including in foreign courts. If
global technology giants pay publishers in other countries, there
is no reason Azerbaijani journalism should continue to fill their
pockets for free.