Why It Matters
Axel Springer SE is lobbying for compensation for journalistic content as a publisher coalition announced new members on Oct. 13. The issue is how publishers are compensated when artificial intelligence systems use their journalism, connecting content tracking with licensing.
By the Numbers
Axel Springer's in-house lobbying disclosure, signed Oct. 26, reported expenses of $110,000 for the third quarter, unchanged from both the preceding quarter and the third quarter of 2025.
Outside firms ACG Advocacy LLC and Marla Grossman LLC reported $50,000 and $20,000, respectively. Across all three registrants, the company's total was $180,000, up $20,000 from the preceding quarter and unchanged from the third quarter of 2025.
Amelia Binder, senior vice president of global government affairs and a former House staffer, was the sole lobbyist named on the in-house report. The disclosure names no specific legislation, so the related bills below should not be read as measures it identifies as lobbying targets.
Broader Context
On July 23, Reps. Laurel Lee (R-FL), Valerie Foushee (D-NC) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) introduced the Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, H.R. 9915. The bill would require automated web crawlers to identify themselves and disclose their purpose when accessing websites. The announcement lists Axel Springer US among its supporters, alongside the News/Media Alliance and News Corp. The alliance's president, Danielle Coffey, argued that existing technical tools are insufficient to protect publishers' content from disguised bots. The bill was referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The SPUR coalition announced more than 40 new members on Oct. 13, including The New York Times, Agence France-Presse, The Atlantic and The Economist. The expansion brought the coalition to more than 80 members across over 20 countries. In its content-tracking standard, SPUR argues that tracking publishers' content use would support licensing and fair compensation.
The U.S. Copyright Office's analysis examines fair-use questions involving artificial intelligence training and discusses voluntary licensing and other policy options. Separately, the Copyright Labeling and Ethical AI Reporting Act, introduced by Sens. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and John Curtis (R-UT), would require developers of generative AI models to submit notices to the Register of Copyrights identifying copyrighted works used in building those models.
The Bottom Line
The Senate referred S. 3813, the Copyright Labeling and Ethical AI Reporting Act, to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 10. The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act remains at the committee stage in the House. Neither measure was identified by bill number in Axel Springer's in-house lobbying disclosure.
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