AFP Joins the SPUR Coalition to Shape the Rules of AI in Journalism
Agence France-Presse (AFP) is joining the international SPUR (Standards for Publisher Usage Rights) coalition, set up in February 2026 by the BBC, Financial Times, Guardian, Sky News and The Telegraph Media Group. Bringing together media organisations from around the world, the objective is to establish the standards for the use of journalistic content by AI systems. By taking part, AFP intends to ensure the voice of news agencies is heard.
AI assistants are becoming a primary point of access to news and information for the public. They frequently draw on journalistic content, often without making clear to users where the information comes from. Meanwhile, the news organisations that produced it are not always consulted, credited or remunerated.
The questions of who can access journalistic content, on what terms, with what attribution and under what compensation model are being decided today. If journalists and publishers do not write them, the platforms will.
News agencies sit at the beginning of the information chain, producing reliable, fact-based journalism based on rigorous ethical standards. Their content is used across thousands of media organisations before being incorporated into AI systems, often without its origin being identified. AFP wants to ensure that this value is properly recognised.
By joining SPUR, AFP is working to ensure that the media organisations can better control the use of their content by AI systems, support fair commercial compensation, and establish standards for transparency and traceability.
Among the initiative's key priorities is the Content Telemetry standard, a framework that enables media organisations to monitor and measure how AI models access and use their content. Understanding and documenting those uses is the first step toward meaningful negotiations.
Fabrice Fries, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, AFP:
“Each day, millions of people rely on AI assistants for information gathered and verified by news agency journalists. That original journalistic value must be recognised, credited and fairly compensated. Content traceability is not only a matter of intellectual property; it is also essential to maintaining public trust.”
Pauline Talagrand, Deputy News Director in charge of AI, AFP:
“Against the world's largest AI firms, no media company has sufficient leverage on its own. By bringing together publishers, public media organisations and news agencies under a common framework, SPUR provides the collective leverage needed for a more balanced relationship with platforms. That process starts with facts: understanding precisely how our content is being used is the first step toward negotiating fair terms.”
David Buttle, Co-founder of SPUR:
“We’re truly delighted to welcome AFP to SPUR as part of a wider global expansion of the Coalition's membership. AFP joining marks an important step in our growth and brings the experience and global reach of one of the world’s leading news agencies to our work.
As our membership grows in France and internationally, we’re strengthening the collective voice of organisations that invest in original journalism and developing the standards that enable publishers and AI platforms to do business on fair, transparent terms.
We now look forward to working closely together with AFP, drawing on its extensive experience in licensing journalism around the world.”
ABOUT SPUR
The SPUR Coalition (Standards for Publisher Usage Rights) is a non-profit coalition of news publishers established to shape the technical and commercial environment within which IP owners can control and monitor the use of their content by generative AI applications. Founding members are the BBC, Guardian Media Group, Mediahuis, Sky News, Telegraph Media Group, Associated Press and CMA Media. The coalition is funded by its members.
ABOUT AFP
Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a global news agency that provides reliable, comprehensive, real-time coverage of the stories that shape our daily lives. Employing more than 2,600 staff from 135 different nationalities, AFP is always on the ground where the news happens, producing multimedia content in six languages: French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic. Our globally recognised expertise in video, text, photo and datajournalism is rewarded every year with several international prizes. AFP is at the cutting edge of digital investigation, with dedicated teams for fact-checking and in-depth analysis of online content.