A renewal of the license deal between Meta and the Italian collecting society SIAE has not been reached, as communicated by both parties on March 16. “Safeguarding the rights of songwriters and artists is an absolute priority for us. Therefore, today we will start the procedure to remove the songs of the SIAE catalog from our music library,” said a spokesperson of Meta quoted by newspaper La Repubblica.

“We have license deals in more than 150 countries and will continue to work towards a deal with SIAE that be satisfying for all parties.” The biggest impact will be on reels and stories. Facebook will block contents that include music from the SIAE-controlled catalog. Instagram will mute them, unless users decide to select a different song from the music library.