A new poll suggests that most Canadians believe news should be free and accessible to all, while also believing media outlets will find other ways to make money.
The Léger firm conducted a national online survey of 1,564 people over the weekend to gather their opinions on the Liberal government’s Online News Act.
The law, which takes effect later this year, will require web giants such as Google to compensate media outlets for content shared or otherwise reused on their platforms.
About three in four respondents said they were aware of the Online News Act, formerly known as Bill C-18, and 34% of those surveyed said the law was a good thing for helping media that compete with tech giants for advertising revenue.
In response to the bill, Meta removed Canadian news from its Facebook and Instagram platforms, which angered survey respondents.
Overall, 59% of respondents said the company should restore access to information, and only 12% agreed Meta should be allowed to protest the legislation.
“It’s quite interesting because there’s not a lot of opposition to the bill itself,” said Christian Bourque, executive vice-president of Léger.
“There is opposition to the fact that they don’t get their news when they want, where they want,” he said.
Other ways to make money
The poll suggests that two in three Canadians believe that information should be free and accessible to all, and that “struggling media outlets have other ways to make money.”
This sentiment was highest among 18- to 34-year-olds, a group that gets their news almost entirely from social media.
Mr. Bourque said there was a feeling of: “It’s there, it exists. I should have the right to have access to it. »
He says it’s a byproduct of the Internet and the idea that it should give people universal access to whatever they want.
“And social networks offered practically everything for free,” he pointed out. I think most Canadians expect that to be the way they get information. »
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has often said that Meta refused to “pay their fair share” because they chose to remove Canadian news from their platforms instead of negotiating deals with media outlets, as required by law.
The poll suggests that 43% of Canadians support the bill, while 31% are opposed to it and 26% don’t know enough about the situation to have an opinion.
The polling industry’s professional body, the Canadian Marketing Research and Intelligence Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not sample the population accurately. random.
An advertising revenue problem
News companies have long relied on subscribers, viewers and advertisers to generate revenue, but in recent years they have seen each of these revenue sources decline.
The Canadian Media Concentration Research (CMCR) Project found that Google and Facebook collectively accounted for 79% of online advertising revenues estimated at $12.3 billion in 2021, and more than half of total advertising spending across all media.
News Media Canada said advertising revenue for the country’s community newspapers fell to $411 million in 2020, from $1.21 billion in 2011. During that period, nearly 300 newspapers disappeared or merged with other publications.
Mr. Bourque indicated that respondents believe the media will find other ways to make money. “But what other way? » he asks himself.
Poll results show that nearly half of Canadians, 47%, noticed a change after Meta blocked news, with higher numbers standing at 54% among Quebecers and 59% among those who get their news mainly via social media.
Respondents are turning to other sources of information: 22% of respondents say they are turning to television and radio, 20% say they will turn to free traditional media websites and mobile apps, and 13% say they will turn to free traditional media websites and mobile apps. choose other social media sites like Reddit and X, formerly known as Twitter.
Only 6% say they are willing to pay a subscription to access information directly.