Media Revenue Sharing | The web giants will have six months to conclude agreements

(Ottawa) Facebook and Google will have six months after the adoption of the new law on revenue sharing with news media to reach agreements, or they will be forced to do so by an independent arbitrator under the supervision of the CRTC. If they do not comply, these web giants would expose themselves to financial penalties of up to 15 million.

Mylene Crete
The Press

“We are convinced that this will encourage negotiations in good faith and that our project will make it possible to build a fairer digital society where all players, from the biggest to the smallest, can flourish”, declared Tuesday the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, at a press conference.

He had just tabled Bill C-18 inspired by the Australian model, which will probably apply to Facebook and Google. Unlike Canberra, Ottawa will not decide which platforms would be subject to this legislation. Criteria will be determined later by regulation, but they will essentially have to be dominant in the Canadian market.

“If we look at the 2020 revenues, there are two platforms that are in a dominant position, so Google and Facebook, explained Mr. Rodriguez at a press conference. Why ? Because they get 80% of online revenue. Out of 10 billion, that’s huge. »

This loss of ad revenue has hurt newsrooms. In all, 450 news outlets closed between 2008 and 2021, according to government data.

The minister expects their share of the pie to be between 150 and 200 million under the agreements they have concluded. The six-month deadline for reaching an agreement could be extended up to 12 months in some cases, he said without giving further details.

“For me, this is proof that the Australian model works, reacted the president of The Press, Pierre-Elliott Levasseur, in an interview. It recognizes the value of the content that we broadcast and that ends up on their platforms. We’ve been trying to get it for years. »

The Online News Act would not apply to news aggregators like Apple News, to platforms already subject to the Broadcasting Act or at the Telecommunications Law like YouTube and Netflix or to private messaging services like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

Make deals

Newspapers and magazines, government-recognized online news companies, broadcasters that publish original news content on the internet, whether public or private, which therefore includes CBC/Radio-Canada , will be able to enter into agreements with the web giants. Small players will be able to negotiate as a group to have a better balance of power.

However, the bill provides exemption criteria for platforms that have already signed revenue-sharing agreements with enough media outlets. They would not be forced into a process of mandatory negotiation and arbitration if those negotiations failed. Facebook, for example, already has an agreement with the daily The duty and the six Coops de l’information newspapers in Quebec.

Nothing obliges the major digital platforms to enter into agreements with all the news media. On the other hand, they will have to make sure to include both large and small regional media, to also take into account the Aboriginal presence and news for cultural communities.

“What would allow more flexibility would be to have this model which allows piecemeal negotiation between the various stakeholders, but also the establishment of a parallel fund,” argued the deputy leader of the Bloc. Quebecer, Christine Normandin. Such a fund would distribute royalties to industry players who would be left behind.

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The duration of the agreements already concluded would be short, according to News Media Canada, which represents hundreds of newspapers across the country. “If Parliament does not pass the law by the end of June, the renewal of these agreements may not be on such commercially favorable terms,” ​​he said in an open letter.

The Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec (FPJQ) and the National Federation of Communications and Culture (FNCC – CSN) welcomed the bill.

Both Google and Meta, a company formerly known as Facebook, said they would carefully review the bill to fully understand its implications. In Australia, the two web giants had tried to put pressure on the government. Google had threatened to suspend its services and Facebook had blocked the country’s news media content altogether for eight days.