Senators who study Bill C-18 and are part of two caucuses that together form a majority in the Senate say they are far from intimidated by the fact that Meta blocks access to content produced by news outlets information on Facebook and Instagram for certain Canadians.
“I think it’s naive, not very respectful and unprecedented,” said Senator Peter Harder, who sits on the communications committee of the Upper House, in an interview.
For this member of the Progressive Group of Senators (GPS) appointed to the Senate in 2016, the situation is a first. “I have never seen a private sector company act so belligerently in the face of a parliamentary legislative process,” he summarizes.
Bill C-18, which seeks to force ‘web giants’ to compensate media outlets for sharing to their news content, could complete its legislative journey and become law before parliamentary business breaks in the Senate at the end of June.
The fact that Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, chose this moment of last resort to go from words to actions leaves no doubt among senators: it is a maneuver aimed at influencing their work. The initiative is presented as “tests” by Meta, which should identify any problems before turning off the tap completely to media content on the company’s platforms.
“It is completely unacceptable that this tactic is used to put pressure on the work we are doing on Bill C-18,” said Senator René Cormier, member of the Independent Senators Group. (GSI) who sits on the Communications Committee.
The senators affiliated with the GSI and the GPS together form the majority of the members of this committee having in their hands the legislative document. Moreover, they are in the majority among all the senators, the GSI being the most numerous group.
GSI Senator Donna Dasko, who says she has worked in polling and market research, says it’s commonplace for companies to run tests, but the circumstances in which Meta conducts them make the a “much more provocative” exercise.
She points out that Meta had been voicing his threat for months that he would only back down if amendments that suit him are made to C-18. The episode also recalls the “tests” conducted by Google in March, she notes.
“It’s been going on for months. I’m quite used to it now and I don’t feel threatened, ”says the senator.
Same story with his Quebec colleague Julie Miville-Dechêne, who was “not surprised”.
“The study is continuing and we will try to study as rationally as possible a bill which is quite complex – much more […] than what happened in Australia, ”she said, noting that Justin Trudeau’s government wanted to correct elements of the Australian version, the first law of its kind.
For meme Miville-Dechêne and Mr. Cormier, it is clear that a permanent withdrawal of journalistic content from Meta platforms will mainly deal a heavy blow to small media.
“I am thinking particularly of the media that are located in the regions, particularly those of official language minority communities,” said Senator Cormier. So it’s a gesture, I find, that is disrespectful for the Canadian population, for the regions and for those who contribute to our democracy. »
Senator Harder points out that Meta’s action comes at a time when other jurisdictions, such as the United States, are considering adopting a law requiring “web giants” to negotiate fair agreements with media. Already, the Silicon Valley company made the same threat on Thursday against a California state bill.
“It’s a great battle between the democracy of Parliament on one side and the multinational corporations on the other”, believes Senator Andrew Cardozo, member of the GPS.
Conservative Senator Leo Housakos, who chairs the Senate Communications Committee, was unavailable for an interview. Invited, therefore, by The Canadian Press to indicate in a written statement if he had a message to address to the leaders of Meta, he declined the offer and instead attacked the Trudeau government.
“We all want free and independent media to thrive in this country. It is an essential element of our democracy. This bill, however, does nothing to ensure that. On the contrary,” expressed the senator.
In his opinion, the C-18 is “a dragnet in big technology companies, which is very easy to demonize”.
Its boss, Pierre Poilievre, considers Meta’s approach inappropriate. “I am against threats. I am against censorship, “he said Friday, at a press briefing in Manitoba, while criticizing “the incompetence of Justin Trudeau”. The Conservatives have opposed the bill from the start.
In an interview, Bloc Québécois MP Martin Champoux, who participated in the clause-by-clause study of C-18 while Google was conducting its own “tests”, said he was confident that senators would not allow themselves to be influenced by “gross intimidation by Meta.
” It is [primordial] not to react to these threats, because it is important that these large technological companies are obliged to contribute to our society”, adds the elected NDP Peter Julian.
And Mr. Champoux warns that if the senators abdicated, his colleagues and he, in the House of Commons, intend to “pull themselves together and reject these proposed amendments”.
With the collaboration of Michel Saba