Written by: Karissa Ketter, News Editor
Canada’s Bill C-18 was tabled in the House of Commons on June 21, 2022. Since then, those living in Canada have had their access to Canadian media restricted by Meta and Google. Obviously, this is an issue for Canadians trying to find important information about their own communities. This has already left smaller publications in the shadows, propelled misinformation, and it might even push us to turn to US-centred news to stay informed. But why is this happening?
The Bill, also known as the Online News Act, was intended to protect and support the Canadian news industry from the global market. Supposedly, it would “sustain local journalism, support innovation in news, and ensure diversity in the news industry.” The way it would protect our media industry is by forcing technology corporations to pay Canadian news companies to showcase their media. In other words, companies like Google and Meta would have to pay Canadian news companies for hosting news accounts like CTV, Global News, and even The Peak. Rather than pay up, Meta and Google decided to entirely eliminate our ability to see Canadian content.
Sure, Canadian news industries deserve to be compensated for the traffic they bring to Meta and Google. According to a professor from Carleton University, up to 50% of Canadians get their news from Google and social media, which brings attention to these platforms. Rather than news industries benefitting from that online traffic, Meta and Google profit more. So, they should be held accountable for the profit they earn off of Canadian journalists’ work. However, the Bill has made it possible for Google and Meta to block us from our news entirely. Meta has already started banning Canadian news for those in Canada on Instagram and Facebook. Google hasn’t yet started their process of blocking our news, but that’s expected to begin soon as well.
Based on Canada’s calculations, if Google or Meta had not opted to block our news, they would have had to pay the news industry around $172 million CAD and $60 million CAD per year respectively. Which, in terms of how much money Google and Meta make, is barely a drop. Last year, Meta made roughly $320 million CAD per day. Google’s profits last year were roughly $379 billion CAD.
The way the Online News Act will affect Canadians is significant. In the most common way, we won’t be able to see daily news updates on Facebook, Instagram, or Google. Social media has become an important part of the political sphere, social sphere, and the health of our democracy. Canadians will struggle to get up-to-date information on politics, economic well-being, community updates, and more. The far-reaching effects of this block are yet to be fully understood. In the most severe way, it will become increasingly difficult to share life-saving information. Most recently, folks evacuating Yellowknife from wildfires were stuck in an information “local media vacuum,” as they struggled to see news from credible sources telling them where to go.
The good news is that Canada isn’t the only country thinking about ways to protect news industries from big technology corporations. Our Online News Act is actually modeled after Australia’s 2021 law. In that case, Google and Meta threatened to block their content too, but they eventually started paying some Australian news organizations. The United States is also considering their own bill, called the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act. This would allow American news companies to negotiate with platforms for monetary compensation.
It’s certainly time for large technology companies like Google and Meta to compensate the creators that bring them so much profit. If enough countries decide to demand fair payment for their news companies, maybe Google and Meta will be forced to comply. Until then, it’s going to be difficult for Canadians to get access to important news about their communities, complicating their emergency responses.
