The news will disappear from your news feed, Facebook announced after the Canadian Senate’s vote on Thursday formalized the passage of the bill that plans to force “dominant” web companies to the negotiating table with the companies of news.
“We confirm today that we will end access to news on Facebook and Instagram to all users in Canada, before the entry into force of the Online News Act”, writes on its blog the Californian multinational. Meta, in both official languages.
The platform is thus carrying out its threat, repeated during the examination of Bill C-18 on the sharing of revenues between the giants of the Web and the media, in the hope of having it modified. The elected officials and senators had replied that they would not bow to the threat.
In the same message, Facebook wishes to reassure its users “that they will always be able to stay in touch with their friends and family, grow their businesses and support their communities. »
Facebook, like Google, this spring conducted “tests” aimed at blocking access to news articles to a small fraction of the country’s Internet users.
Ottawa’s bet
“I sincerely hope that the government will win its bet,” said independent senator Julie Miville-Dechêne, shortly before the vote, the outcome of which was unsurprising.
The elected members of Parliament had already left Ottawa the day before, for the summer, leaving it to the senators to adopt the text. They had just before sent back to the Upper House the version already revised by the Senate, minus two amendments of Mme Miville-Dechêne who were to specify that the negotiations between the Web platforms and the media which share their content there would be based on “exchanges of values”.
This exchange – what both recognize as the value of news on the platforms, monetary or not – must guide possible arbitrations if no agreement occurs, but not necessarily the prior negotiations, decided the government. The Minister explained that it was necessary to “keep flexibility as much as possible” so as not to penalize the media in this expected showdown.
Royal Assent will thus have to formalize the Act respecting online communication platforms making news content available to persons in Canada. Other important steps will guide the way forward before the media receives the promised funding.
Amicable settlements
The consequences of Facebook’s blocking of news are still unclear on the application of the new law, which was initially intended to require “minimal intervention” from the government. If everything were to go as planned, the platforms would agree on their own with the media on an amount to be provided to them, for example following collective negotiations.
Before getting there, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) must first establish the rules of the game. It will have to officially designate Google and Facebook as the “dominant” companies covered by the law, according to criteria established by regulation. Then, the CRTC must draft a “code of conduct” to which the parties must subscribe in order to negotiate.
These rules must also determine whether these companies have already concluded enough agreements with the media to avoid doing more. Both Facebook and Google already finance several press organizations, including Le Devoir, under agreements whose amounts are kept confidential. However, several other media, including large groups such as Bell Media and CBC / Radio-Canada are also claiming their share of the cake.
In Australia, a country that has adopted a similar law, collective bargaining with the media has enabled the Internet giants to be exempted from the law. The multinational Google multiplied its efforts this spring to enshrine in law the number of media with which it would be sufficient to agree.
An evaluation of the agreements
Ultimately, it will be up to the CRTC, as regulator, to assess whether the number and quality of the agreements satisfy it. To do this, the Council will have to base itself on a series of criteria.
Overall, the agreements should provide fair compensation to support the production of local, regional and national news. The media must retain their independence and freedom of expression. Platforms must contribute to “the viability of the Canadian news ecosystem”, with media that reflect languages, racialized groups or Indigenous peoples, for example.
Eligible media are those that are already recognized by the government as a qualified Canadian journalism organization (QCJO), or those that meet various criteria, such as employing two or more journalists in Canada and operating in the country.
The CRTC will also have to publish an annual report that records the total value of commercial agreements with platforms, without revealing commercial information.
A potentially costly arbitration
If Google and Facebook fail to sign agreements in sufficient numbers to satisfy the CRTC within the next 18 months, these companies will be subject to the entire law. The financial consequences could be significant.
This would give the right to each media to drag these platforms before an arbitrator. Their case would include estimating what is owed to them, based on the price of producing the news, the value the platforms derive from it, and the “imbalance” in bargaining power. The arbitrator will then have to decide whether the platform’s offer is sufficient.
Google and Facebook have sharply criticized this aspect, which would amount to forcing them to pay the media for the volume of links to the articles they display, which they say is contrary to the spirit of how the Internet works.