(Ottawa) Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez told a Commons committee on Friday that he would be open to amendments to his bill that he said would make Canada a world leader in support to a modern free press.
Posted at 6:24 p.m.
Bill C-18 aims to force “web giants” to enter into agreements with Canadian news companies to share part of the revenue they earn by publishing journalistic content on their online platforms. This would not affect the agreements already concluded with press companies.
“This is the future of journalism in our country,” Rodriguez said Friday. The law aims to ensure that news organizations in Canada get fair compensation for their work. »
Under the bill, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) would be responsible for developing regulations on how the framework is established, investigating complaints and imposing administrative penalties if parties violated the law.
Canada’s decision to make “web giants” pay for news and subject them to a CRTC arbitration process follows similar legislation passed in Australia last year.
As Australia’s bill was being finalized, Facebook, which has since rebranded itself as Meta, removed news content from its platform in that country for several days, but restored it after the government brought changes to its law.
Meta Canada did not appear before the Commons committee. According to a statement from its head of media partnerships, the company was “surprised not to receive an invitation to participate, especially given public comments from lawmakers that this law targeted Facebook.”
Marc Dinsdale’s statement outlines Meta’s concerns and argues that the bill would essentially force the company to pay for content that media outlets voluntarily share on the platform, which she says already amounts to “gratuitous marketing.” for news content.
“We feel it’s important to be transparent about the possibility that we will have to consider if we continue to allow sharing of news content in Canada,” Dinsdale said, adding that Meta was “open to work with the government.
Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu asked Minister Rodriguez if Canada was doing anything to prevent an outcome where Facebook content would be banned. “This is a business decision that needs to be made by the platform,” Rodriguez replied.
“The world is watching us”
Under the new framework, Canada would take a similar approach to Australia’s, but with more transparency mechanisms, the minister said. “To the point that even Australians look at us and say, ‘Wow, that’s good, let’s see if we can do the same,'” he added. The world is watching us and I hope we will be up to it. »
News companies have broadly backed the bill, but associations representing smaller news outlets have complained that eligibility criteria requiring newsrooms to have two full-time reporters could exclude many newspapers struggling communities.
Minister Rodriguez said Friday that the bill is not intended to be a “quick fix” and that the government is investing money in other programs that support local journalism. But he also said he was open to discussing changes that would address any concerns.
He added that a provision on collective bargaining in the bill is designed to support smaller media outlets by allowing them to band together when sitting across from the big platforms.
Google Canada criticized the legislation this week, saying a provision requiring platforms not to give “undue preference” to particular media would prevent the search engine from elevating trusted news sources above content ” of lesser quality” and misinformation.
And documents provided by Google to the Heritage Committee point to other concerns about how the bill defines “eligible” news outlets.
An overly vague definition means companies headquartered elsewhere that fail to meet journalistic ethics standards could still qualify, as long as they employ two people in Canada, the documents say, raising the possibility of unintentionally include foreign propaganda.
When asked if he would support amendments that would specifically write journalistic integrity provisions into the bill, Rodriguez said he was always open to discussing changes.
He said the bill attempts to be as “independent” as possible and that the government has no role to play in selecting and deciding which media can enter the negotiation process, beyond the criteria set out in the bill. “I don’t think it’s up to me to decide and name which organizations would be included. »
CRTC officials who testified before the committee earlier Friday said they would only review the legislation itself to determine which media outlets qualify.
Rachelle Frenette, General Counsel and Deputy Director General of the CRTC, confirmed that to include “journalistic integrity” in the list of criteria, it would have to be explicitly enshrined in law.
CRTC Chairman Ian Scott told the committee earlier on Friday that his agency was well equipped to iron out the details of the bill and oversee its complaints mechanisms, although there will be challenges along the way. Mr Scott said he had already sought advice from colleagues in other countries where similar laws are in place, such as Australia.
An assessment by the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) suggested earlier this month that the measures in Bill C-18 could help Canadian news organizations earn $329.2 million a year. According to the PBO, 247.7 million would go to broadcasters with an online presence, and 81.6 million would go to other news organisations.
Meta funds a scholarship that supports journalism positions at The Canadian Press.