Italy's media associations on Monday launched an appeal for support from the government and parliament, saying their members' role as a guarantors of information and pluralism is being undermined by the global web giants' exploitation of their content.
    In a statement, Italian publishers association AIE, newspaper publishers association FIEG and CRTV, the radio and television section of industry federation Confindustria, said the Big Tech companies "have profoundly altered market dynamics and the basic principles of healthy competition.
    "Big Tech aggregates and financially exploits the news and creative content produced by publishers without recognizing—or even marginally— copyright," the statement said.
    "They offer free digital services in direct competition with the original sources, receiving in exchange personal data that they exploit to retain the majority of advertising revenue, thus weakening the financial sustainability of those who bear the costs of original production.
    "Furthermore, they use non-transparent algorithms that place publishers in a position of dependency, limiting their ability to directly reach citizens and, in effect, undermining the principle of free enterprise in the sector.
    "At the same time, Big Tech claims broad immunity from liability over what happens on their platforms, presenting the theft of others' intellectual property, fake news, and the masking of sources as 'freedom of expression', forgetting that freedom of expression must always be protected, and their specific responsibilities not evaded.
    "Publishers, on the other hand, are legally liable for what they publish.
    "Such a highly unbalanced market can never be fair".
    The statement called on the government and parliament to urgently pass measures to "rebalance the market and guarantee a future for the economic, social and cultural value of the Italian publishing industry, an irreplaceable bulwark of our democracy and freedom of information".