BRUSSELS, July 10 (Reuters) - EU member states have the

right to impose their own measures to strengthen the position of

publishers in their dealings with large online platforms as long

as these do not undermine freedom of contract, an adviser to the

EU's highest court said on Thursday.

The European Union's Court of Justice (CJEU) is handling a

dispute between Facebook owner Meta and the Italian

communications authority AGCOM, over a fee the U.S. tech giant

has to pay publishers in Italy for using snippets of their news

articles.

Meta had questioned whether such national measures are

compatible with rights already granted to publishers under the

EU copyright legislation.

But CJEU Advocate General Maciej Szpunar said the rights the

EU had intended to give to publishers went beyond only allowing

them to oppose the use of their material if they were not paid

for them.

"Their purpose is to establish the conditions under which

those publications are actually used, while allowing publishers

to receive a fair share of the revenues derived by platforms

from that use," he said.

"The limitations introduced pursue a public interest

recognised by the EU legislature: strengthening the economic

viability of the press, a key pillar of democracy."

However Szpunar said the Italian regulator should keep in

mind contractual freedom.

"The powers conferred on AGCOM - including the definition of

benchmark criteria for determining remuneration, the resolution

of disagreements and the monitoring of the obligation to provide

information - are permissible if they are limited to assistance

and do not deprive the parties of their contractual freedom," he

said.

The court, which usually follows the majority of

recommendations by the advocate-general, will rule in the coming

months.

The case is C-797/23 Meta Platforms Ireland (Fair

compensation).