France: First legal battle won for journalists of the Infopro Digital press group threatened with dismissal in favor of AI
First legal battle won in France at a time when journalists are threatened with being replaced by the artificial intelligence (AI). On Tuesday, 15 September, the Judicial Court of Créteil ordered the partial suspension of a plan to dismiss journalists as editorial secretaries (secrétaires de rédaction) within the Infopro Digital press group in favor of AI. In total, 19 journalists are threatened with losing their jobs and 26 professional press titles published by Infopro Digital are directly impacted.
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes this decision as historic for the entire profession, at a time when the use of AI is increasingly invoked, without any framework or hindsight, to justify large-scale redundancy plans in France, to the detriment of press freedom and the quality of information.
On 4 May 2026, the management of Infopro Digital announced to the elected representatives of the social and economic committee (CSE) of the Moniteur group and Gisi its intention to cut 19 positions for journalists editorial secretaries. Positions that are of paramount importance, from proofreading, to the expertise specific to journalists to ensure verified information of quality, free and consistent with the editorial line. A human look at publications that no AI can replace.
The journalists are set to be replaced by five new “chief editor” positions that would work with AI. The reason given? The reduction of its payroll and the cost of producing magazines at a time when Infopro Digital is posting exceptional results for the sector. No prototype has been set up.
“After having contested, for several months, the qualification of ‘new technology’ concerning artificial intelligence, in fact requiring the elected representatives of the CSE of Groupe Moniteur and Gisi to take the company to court to force it to open an information-consultation procedure on the principle of the use of generative AI, the management of Infopro Digital has the audacity, today, to invoke a ‘technological change’ to justify its job protection plan (PSE),” reacted in May the members of the EFJ (SNJ, SNJ-CGT, CFDT Journalistes) alongside other journalists’ trade union organisations. About 250 journalists from these 26 newspapers launched a strike in spring to oppose the project.
Seized in interim proceedings by the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) of the Infopro Digital press group, the Judicial Court of Créteil suspended on Tuesday the first part of the dismissal plan concerning eight working journalists. The court considered that in the absence of a “real situation”, the deployment of this plan presented “a serious and characterized risk to the physical and mental health of several categories of employees”. The group’s management reserves its right to appeal.
“This first legal battle victory is a signal to journalists, in France and in Europe, who would be threatened with being replaced by artificial intelligence agents: fight, don’t let it happen! Those who accept the employers’ decisions are already dismissed. Those who fight to defend our profession and our colleagues achieve victories. The strike launched at Infopro Digital, as soon as the job cuts were announced at the beginning of May, set the tone. We will not let this happen,” said Pablo Aiquel, General Secretary of the SNJ-CGT and Vice-President of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ).
At a time when plans to cut jobs are multiplying, such as at Prisma-Media, and the media landscape is becoming more and more deserted and controlled by billionaires such as Vincent Bolloré, AI must in no way be used as an additional pretext to push media professionals out of newsrooms. On 18 June, a historic demonstration mobilised more than 1,000 journalists and citizens concerned about the future of news in the streets of Paris and other cities.
While AI can offer opportunities to journalists, the EFJ welcomes the court decision on the first part of the redundancy plan and reiterates the importance of journalists being at the helm of the news. A journalist replaced by AI is quality information that is threatened. It is a right to free information that is being taken away.
