In 2023, the European Commission imposed a fine of 376 million euros on a major streaming platform for failing to meet transparency obligations towards rights holders. Until recently, some contracts between platforms and producers escaped all scrutiny, despite the European copyright directive adopted in 2019.
Artists are denouncing opaque remuneration while industry giants multiply confidential agreements. Pressure is mounting on lawmakers to demand the publication of recommendation algorithms and the methods for calculating royalties. Discussions on the upcoming European reform are set to be crucial.
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Streaming and Transparency: An Overview of Regulations in Europe and Challenges for the Sector
The streaming market has been shaken up by the rise of digital platforms. Their influence is prompting lawmakers, both in France and Brussels, to revisit the rules of the game. Since the directive on audiovisual media services, the European Commission has been emphasizing the need to impose concrete transparency obligations on streaming platforms, particularly regarding the collection and use of personal data from users. France, with the law for a digital republic, has strengthened the right to fair and transparent information on recommendation algorithms. However, on the ground, transparency remains timid and fragmented.
Several key areas currently structure the regulation of the sector:
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- Protection of personal data and consumers
- Combating abuse of dominant position by major players
- Preservation of cultural diversity through quotas and media chronology
Since 2024, the Digital Services Act has reinforced the obligation for clarity regarding recommendation algorithms and business practices. However, platforms have mastered the art of sidestepping certain points, sometimes invoking business secrecy and other times system security.
In this area, it is impossible to speak of a single model. From one service to another, everything changes. Some, like Allostream, question the legitimacy and level of security of their model, illustrating the shifting boundary between legal offerings and gray areas of streaming. The protection of users’ personal data remains a central issue, while market concentration and business model logics perpetuate opacity. Debates around the GAFA tax, the SMAD decree, or the COSIP tax crystallize the opposition between national sovereignty and European harmonization.
Artists, Consumers, Platforms: What Consequences and What Paths Towards a Fairer Model?
Transparency cannot be decreed; it is built step by step. It must be embodied in practices, interfaces, and the way value is distributed. Artists, on the front lines, are waiting for a fairer sharing, tired of the opacity maintained by the business models of streaming platforms. The complex distribution mechanisms still benefit established catalogs, leaving cultural diversity and emerging talents by the wayside. Quotas for local productions and the space given to minority languages fuel lively discussions, revealing the constant tension between global ambitions and territorial realities.
For consumers, the collection and processing of their personal data remain subjects of debate. Algorithmic recommendations, often obscure, guide their discovery of works and shape their habits, even their digital identity. The demand for fair and transparent information about these uses is becoming a marker of trust, but also an issue of collective control.
On the platform side, regulation acts as a spur. Adapting interfaces, rethinking data management, assuming greater editorial responsibility: the challenges are piling up. Service quality, accessible diversity, and the protection of consumers are becoming significant arguments in an increasingly tough competition and in the face of growing distrust.
Three major axes outline expectations and action paths:
- Transparency of recommendation algorithms: a lever to restore trust.
- Fair remuneration for artists: a condition for a vibrant creative sector.
- Protection of users’ personal data: the foundation of a respectful and sustainable model.
The work remains open, immense, and the next European reform could well redefine the balance between innovation, equity, and digital sovereignty. The streaming landscape has not finished being reshuffled.