Digital giant Meta says it has “serious concerns” about the federal government’s online news bill, which would require tech companies to compensate news outlets for reusing their work on social media platforms.
Meta Canada’s Rachel Curran told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that the company, which owns Facebook and Instagram, is examining the bill and its options for a possible response in detail.
She said Meta had “not been consulted” on its content, a claim hotly disputed by heritage minister spokeswoman Pablo Rodriguez, who accused Ms Curran of a “false assertion”.
Canada’s bill to bolster the news industry is modeled on an Australian law, where Facebook last year introduced a temporary ban on viewing and sharing information on its site to protest the bill of law.
At the House of Commons Public Safety Committee, Conservative MP Raquel Dancho asked Ms Curran if a similar ban in Canada was on the cards for Facebook.
“We are still reviewing all options based on our assessment of the legislation,” Ms Curran replied.
Meta’s head of public policy added that she couldn’t “comment definitively” on any possible action regarding this bill specifically, as the company is “still in the process of evaluating it.”
“I will say we have some pretty serious concerns,” she added.
She said the tech giant didn’t know the “scope” of the legislation until it was filed.
Ottawa is “open to constructive dialogue”
Laura Scaffidi, spokeswoman for the heritage minister, said it was not true that Mr Rodriguez had not consulted Meta about the bill.
“The Minister met with Facebook on February 10 and officials from the Department of Canadian Heritage have met with Ms. Curran on several occasions since the election last fall. Facebook chose not to participate in the consultation last year,” she summarized.
Ms. Scaffidi added that Rodriguez “is open to constructive dialogue with tech giants,” adding that Facebook could not read the bill before members of the House of Commons.
“Since the bill was introduced, we haven’t heard from Facebook — until Ms. Curran’s misrepresentation today,” she explained.
The Canadian law, which differs in some respects from the Australian model, will establish a process for digital platforms to privately negotiate deals with online newspapers, magazines and media groups as well as with broadcasters who publish online news.
This will allow news outlets to team up to collectively bargain with digital companies for compensation.
If they don’t reach an agreement within six months, the tech platforms will be forced into media mediation and, if that doesn’t work, binding arbitration. Minister Rodriguez stressed that arbitration would be “a last resort”.
Digital platforms that fail to comply with the new law could face penalties of up to $15 million a day for repeated non-compliance, according to government officials.
However, Ms. Curran clarified that publishers who place links on Meta platforms “receive significant value” by doing so.
She said Meta was already committed to innovative solutions to ensure “the sustainability of the news industry in Canada” and had programs supporting Canadian journalism.
Michele Austin, director of public policy at Twitter, told MPs the social media platform was also analyzing the bill.
Ms Austin added that since Twitter is a closed platform, users who click on news links must leave the site to read them.
She told MPs that Twitter was unsure if it would be “included in the bill”. The company doesn’t make a lot of money from news, she said.