This translation is provided for information only. Only the French version is legally binding.
Legal document
Legal notice
Version 1.1 — in force since 23 October 2026
Archived version, replaced on 30 October 2026. See the version in force
Article 1 — Purpose
This document informs the public of the details of the publisher, the publication director and the host of the website www.recto-medias.fr (the “Site”), which gives access to the information service named “Recto” (the “Service”), in accordance with Article 1-1 of French Law No. 2004-575 of 21 June 2004 on confidence in the digital economy, as worded by Law No. 2024-449 of 21 May 2024 on securing and regulating the digital space. It also sets out the intellectual property rules that apply to the Service and the sources of the data it displays.
Article 2 — Publisher
The Site and the Service are published by:
- Company name
- AXO-LAB
- Legal form
- single-shareholder simplified joint-stock company (SASU)
- Share capital
- 5 000 euros
- Registered office
- Le Point Commun, place Claude Wormser, 03000 Avermes, France
- Registration
- Trade and Companies Register of Cusset, under number 103 310 017
- SIRET number of the registered office
- 103 310 017 00019
- APE code
- 6201Z
- Intra-Community VAT number
- FR28103310017
- clement.pandreau@axo-lab.fr
- Telephone
- 07 66 11 56 58
Article 3 — Publication director
The publication director is Clément Pandreau, in the capacity of President of AXO-LAB. The publication director can be contacted at clement.pandreau@axo-lab.fr.
Article 4 — Host
The Site and the data of the Service are hosted by:
- Name
- OVH SAS
- Registered office
- 2 rue Kellermann, 59100 Roubaix, France
- Telephone
- 1007
- Website
- www.ovhcloud.com
The Service’s servers are located in France (OVHcloud data centre in Gravelines). The same applies to the Service’s database and to the audience measurement and error tracking tools, which are installed on these servers and operated by AXO-LAB itself.
Article 5 — Intellectual property
5.1 Rights holders
The Service and all its elements, in particular the source code of the Site and of the browser extension, the database in its structure and content, the name “Recto”, its subtitle, its logo, its graphic charter and its texts, form a work of collaboration within the meaning of Article L. 113-2, first paragraph, and Article L. 113-3 of the French Intellectual Property Code. They are the joint property, in equal shares, of their four authors, Malcolm Chevillot, Lucas Firmin, Sacha Lamour and Clément Pandreau (together, the “Rights Holders”), under a co-ownership and operating agreement.
The Rights Holders also hold the database producer’s right in the Service’s database, provided for by Articles L. 341-1 et seq. of the same code.
Recto is a project by Malcolm Chevillot, Lucas Firmin, Sacha Lamour and Clément Pandreau. Published by AXO-LAB.
5.2 Operation of the Service
AXO-LAB publishes and operates the Service under a non-exclusive licence granted to it by the Rights Holders. It does not hold the intellectual property rights in the Service or in any of its elements.
5.3 Prohibitions
Any reproduction, representation, extraction or reuse, in whole or in part, of the Service or of any of its elements, by any means whatsoever, without the prior written authorisation of the Rights Holders, is prohibited. It constitutes an infringement within the meaning of Articles L. 122-4 and L. 335-2 of the French Intellectual Property Code or an infringement of the database producer’s rights within the meaning of its Article L. 342-1.
These prohibitions apply subject to the exceptions provided for by law, in particular by Article L. 122-5 of the same code, which authorises analyses and short quotations justified by the critical, polemical, educational, scientific or informative nature of the work in which they are incorporated, provided that the names of the authors and the source are clearly stated, and by its Article L. 342-3.
5.4 Source code
The source code of the Service, that of the Site as well as that of the browser extension, is not distributed under any free or open source licence: all rights reserved. It is subject to the prohibitions set out in clause 5.3.
5.5 Public data and third-party components
The public data displayed by the Service remain subject to the licences of their producers, set out in Article 6, which govern their reuse. Third-party software components included in the Service, in particular the typefaces mentioned in Article 7, remain the property of their authors and are used in accordance with their licence.
Article 6 — Data sources and licences
Each Fact displayed by the Service is taken from a public register, together with its source and the date on which it was consulted. The sources used, their producers and the licences under which they are reused are as follows:
| Source | Producer | Licence and attribution |
|---|---|---|
| Open data du .fr (open data on .fr domain names) | Afnic | Licence Ouverte / Open Licence (Etalab, version 1.0). Source: Afnic; date of last update shown on each Card |
| List of press publications and online press services (CPPAP) | French Ministry of Culture | Licence Ouverte / Open Licence version 2.0. Source: French Ministry of Culture; date of last update shown on each Card |
| API Recherche d’entreprises (company search API) | French Interministerial Digital Directorate (data.gouv.fr) | Licence Ouverte / Open Licence version 2.0. Source: data.gouv.fr; date of last update shown on each Card |
| Media ownership transparency database (EMFA) (integration coming) | Arcom | No licence stated by Arcom; reuse under the rules on public sector information (French Code of Relations between the Public and the Administration, Articles L321-1 et seq.) |
| Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI), certificates and transparency reports (integration coming) | Reporters Without Borders | No licence published by the JTI; reuse terms to be agreed with the JTI before integration |
Article 7 — Credits
- Newsreader, IBM Plex Sans and IBM Plex Mono typefaces, distributed under the SIL Open Font License, version 1.1, and served from the Site’s servers.
- Logo and icons: original creations of the Service.
Article 8 — Contact
- For any question about the Service and to exercise rights over personal data: contact@recto-medias.fr.
- To contact AXO-LAB, publisher of the Service, and the publication director: clement.pandreau@axo-lab.fr.
Article 9 — Related documents
Use of the Service is governed by the general terms of use. The processing of personal data is described in the personal data protection policy and the use of trackers in the cookie policy.
Version history
| Version | Entry into force | Changes |
|---|---|---|
| 1.3 (in force) | 5 November 2026 | Article 4 (Host): the Service’s database is hosted by Supabase Pte. Ltd., in an Amazon Web Services data centre located in Paris, and not on the servers of OVH SAS, which host the Site; Contact article: addition of the Site’s contact form. |
| 1.2 | 30 October 2026 | Article 6 (Data sources and licences): a Fact displayed may also be declared by the website concerned, and is then presented as such; addition of Arcom’s list of television and on-demand audiovisual media services of general interest, whose reuse is governed by the conditions set by Arcom on arcom.fr. |
| 1.1 | 23 October 2026 | Brought into line with the co-ownership and operating agreement signed on 22 October 2026: full identification of the publisher (SIRET number, contact details of the publisher and of the project), location in France of all the Service’s servers, rewrite of the Intellectual property article (ownership of the rights, licence granted to the publisher, source code not distributed under a free licence), addition of the authors’ credit and of a Contact article. |
| 1.0 | Never in force | First version. |