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Swiss parliament considers adding AI apps to media copyright bill

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Parliament is debating whether to require internet platforms to pay to include newspaper excerpts. Keystone-SDA

The Swiss parliament would like to require AI applications along with Google and social media platforms to pay copyright fees when displaying extracts from newspaper articles. On Wednesday, it referred the media copyright bill back to the Swiss government.

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On Wednesday, the Swiss Senate unanimously referred the bill on copyright and related rights back to the federal government. The House of Representatives had approved this request in early March by 157 votes to 29, with 2 abstentions. The decision is therefore final.

The federal government must now examine how AI is changing the way platforms and search engines operate, and what implications this has for the bill.

+ Swiss lawmakers back media copyright fees for digital giants

At present, the use of so-called snippets and thumbnails – that is, extracts from texts or images produced as part of journalistic work – is not protected by copyright. Consequently, online services have so far paid no remuneration to media companies for the use of this content.

Translated from German by AI/jdp

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