The Canadian regulator, responsible for implementing the Online News Act (or Bill C-18), has announced plans to create a framework for negotiations between news organisations and tech companies. The development comes after Meta started suspending news content for Canadian users from its social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, over the contentious legislation.
The prospective negotiations surround the requirement laid out in the Online News Act for internet giants to pay news outlets for their content. The legislation, which became law in June, has not yet been enforced but has already caused tension between tech companies and the Canadian government. The regulator aims to establish the compulsory negotiations by early 2025.
The Online News Act particularly targets Meta and Google’s parent company, Alphabet. The Canadian government has faced strong opposition from both conglomerates, which have termed the legislation “unworkable” for their business models. The legislations “misrepresents the value news outlets receive when choosing to use our platforms”, according to Meta.
At the time of the legislation’s drafting, Meta had bluntly threatened to take down news content from its social media platforms for Canadian users, saying that sharing of news largely benefits news organisations and that the company makes only a fraction of revenue through their content.
“The legislation is based on the incorrect premise that Meta benefits unfairly from news content shared on our platforms, when the reverse is true,” Meta had said. “News outlets voluntarily share content on Facebook and Instagram to expand their audiences and help their bottom line.”
Meta followed through with its threats in early August, when reports emerged it had started suspending news content from Facebook and Instagram by disabling links to news articles. The users, however, would still be able to view news articles by visiting websites directly or by availing various news subscription services.
Google has also made it clear that it will stop featuring news content once the Online News Act comes into effect. The search engine giant has termed Bill C-18 a “wrong approach to support journalism”, which might compel the company to make “significant changes” to its products for the Canadian market.
“We have now informed the Government that when the law takes effect, we unfortunately will have to remove links to Canadian news from our Search, News and Discover products in Canada, and that C-18 will also make it untenable for us to continue offering our Google News Showcase product in Canada,” said Google.
The Online News Act will allow news publishers to negotiate with internet companies for a larger share of ad revenue in exchange for their content posted to social media platforms. The legislation will thereby make it mandatory for tech corporations to compensate publishers for news content, a requirement that has caused the ongoing rift between the two entities as well as the government.
Similar legislations have emerged in other markets too. In December last year, Meta threatened to remove news content over the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) in the US. In 2021, Meta suspended news links in Australia after the country implemented a revenue-sharing media bill. The content was restored, however, following several amendments to the law as a result of negotiations between Meta and Australian media companies.
