(Ottawa) Show of force in Ottawa: The Government of Canada will suspend its ads on Facebook and Instagram to retaliate against the decision of the giant Meta to stop sharing news.
The Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, made the announcement Wednesday at a press conference. He estimated the value of government advertising purchases on these social networks at $10 million annually – money that will be “definitely reinvested,” he said.
If Google (Alphabet) is spared, it is because the minister is convinced that a solution is at hand, and that disputes could be ironed out through the regulatory process. And unlike Meta, whose approach is “very aggressive”, Google has a “responsible approach” and “specific requests”.
Minister Rodriguez was accompanied to Ottawa by MP Martin Champoux, from the Bloc Québécois, and Peter Julian, from the New Democratic Party (NDP), by videoconference. The Conservative Party, whose leader Pierre Poilievre has signaled plans to repeal the law, was not represented.
Adopted at the end of June, Bill C-18 aims to force web giants to enter into compensation agreements with the media whose content they publish. In response, Google and Meta said they would stop relaying Canadian news as soon as the law takes effect, about six months from now.
“The government has given us no reason to believe that the regulatory process will be able to solve the structural problems of the legislation,” Kent Walker, Google’s president of international affairs, said in a blog post last week.
Minister Rodriguez believes it is possible to do this. He did not want to identify possible solutions. “I don’t want to negotiate in the public square, […] but it can be done and it will be done, ”he said, reiterating also that other countries are closely following the fight that is being played out here.
He plans to meet shortly with Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, who has introduced a similar bill in the United States to curb web giants. In a statement recently sent to the Globe and Mail, the senator encouraged the Canadian government to persist.
Minister Rodriguez didn’t go so far as to say whether MPs should boycott Facebook and Instagram posts, nor did he go so far as to say whether provinces and territories should emulate the feds by removing their ads from these platforms.
Same thing for Martin Champoux. “It’s a movement that is getting underway, but I would never dare to dictate a course of action to other jurisdictions,” said the elected Bloc member, who himself has worked in the field of communications.
Status quo in Quebec, Quebecor and Cogeco fight back
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Francois Legault
In Quebec, precisely, on Wednesday, Prime Minister François Legault said that he is not ready for the moment to withdraw the advertisements of the Quebec government on the Meta platforms. “It’s a new reality, but we haven’t reached the boycott stage. Not at the moment,” he argued.
However, he said he was fine with tech giants contributing to the media.
On Wednesday morning, Quebecor and Cogeco announced the suspension of their advertising investments on these social networks, evoking the means of pressure of the American company after the adoption of Online News Act in Ottawa.
With The Canadian Press