Over 70 leading UK creators and creative organisations, including Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, and Getty Images, have signed an open letter urging the Government to defend copyright holders’ rights and stop Big Tech AI firms from exploiting their work. The signatories accuse ministers of ignoring international human rights obligations and prioritising US trade deals over the UK’s creative economy.

The Open Internet Project, Origine France Garantie, and the French Forces of Industry welcomed the EU’s €2.95 billion fine against Google for online advertising market abuse, calling it a vital defense of fair competition. They condemned former U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of trade retaliation as an attempt to undermine European sovereignty and digital regulation.

This post brings together the most interesting news items that have been published online since the last newsletter. Members can find more news in the login area of our website.

French photographer Jean-Louis Courtinat, renowned for four decades of compassionate social photography, was honoured with a Visa d’Or at Visa pour l’Image 2025. His powerful work portraying society’s most vulnerable has been represented exclusively by Roger-Viollet since 2021.

A big thank-you to Brendan Quinn, Executive Director of IPTC, for sharing his expertise and guiding us through the many technical solutions for managing AI indexing preferences and protecting visual content.

NTB has acquired Norkon’s Live Center platform and its global customer base, expanding NTB’s reach as an international media technology provider. The deal strengthens NTB’s product portfolio and adds major clients across 20+ countries, while Norkon refocuses on financial technology solutions.

EPA Images has appointed renowned journalist and media manager Sebastián Fest as Sport Business Consultant to strengthen its global sports strategy and client relationships. With over 30 years of experience in international sports media, Fest will help expand EPA’s commercial initiatives while building on its world-class coverage of major events like the FIFA World Cup, Olympic Games, and tennis Grand Slams.

The General Information Press Alliance and the Magazine Press Publishers Union have launched a coordinated action to demand the removal of their members’ copyrighted content from public datasets like Common Crawl, C4, and Oscar, widely used to train generative AI models. The initiative aims to protect publishers’ rights, strengthen legal tools against unauthorized use, and defend the economic sustainability of professional journalism.