After publishing a survey deemed misleading, the Californian giant Google argued Tuesday that misinformation and clickbait would be favored by the bill which should force it to share its revenues with Canadian media.
“You say you want to counter misinformation, so how do you explain this dichotomy? asked Bloc Québécois MP Martin Champoux of Google Canada representative Colin McKay in the parliamentary committee.
The multinational published last week a survey commissioned from the firm Abacus Data about Bill C-18. In particular, we can read that 79% of Canadians say they do not want to pay to access an article found on Google. The problem ? The government does not plan to make Internet users pay in this way. “I think it’s misinformation,” Paul Deegan, president of pressure group News Media Canada, criticized in favor of the bill.
C-18 proposes instead to fund Canadian journalism from the revenues of the biggest players on the Web, mainly Facebook (Meta) and Google (Alphabet). According to this model, these two companies will have to conclude financing agreements with all the information media, without which they expose themselves to arbitration by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
“One of the questions that is asked [dans le sondage de Google] concerns the inordinate powers the CRTC would have over media content if Bill C-18 were passed. […] You are better than us, because we don’t yet know exactly what powers the CRTC will have! quipped Bloc Québécois Martin Champoux in front of the Google representative.
The latter specified to To have to that it was the polling firm that had the task of determining the questions.
Misinformation fears
Google says it supports sustainable journalism, but strongly denounces the Liberal bill. The company would like to continue to choose with whom it can conclude agreements (or not), and criticizes in particular the broad definition of a news company in the text of the law.
“Canadians might see foreign propaganda among media reports like The duty where the Globe and Mail “, alerted Mr. McKay, during his presentation to elected officials.
Also a witness to the committee on Tuesday, the director of the To have to, Brian Myles, was rather of the opinion that regulatory authorities have the necessary expertise to define what constitutes journalism. “We are able to ward off disinformation if we rely on the criteria that already exist,” he said, referring to other government media assistance programs.
As a news medium, The duty has entered into agreements with four web giants since 2014: Microsoft (MSN), Apple (News+), Google and, finally, Meta, in 2021. The elected officials were unable to find out the details, which are of a confidential nature. These agreements could be subject to renegotiation under the proposed new legal framework.
Bouquet of measures
“We are in a complex relationship, a relationship of interdependence and complementarity” with the platforms, explained Brian Myles to the parliamentary committee. He is in favor of C-18, but suggests including an obligation for platforms to share certain data, as well as a mission for the CRTC to respect the country’s linguistic duality.
The director praised this “diversity of income” from the To have to, and believes that the government should offer a “package of measures” for the media, and not just funding provided by the web giants. The federal government should also keep its other journalism assistance programs after the adoption of Bill C-18, such as the Local Journalism Initiative and its tax credits.
We are in a complex relationship, a relationship of interdependence and complementarity
Conservative elected officials have underlined their concern that established media will do better than smaller emerging media with the proposed text. Other speakers, on the contrary, underlined the great success of a similar bill in Australia, where Google and Meta pay up to 30% of journalists’ salaries.