The blackmail of Meta | The Press

So Meta threatens to block all news on Facebook and Instagram if Ottawa forces him to negotiate royalty deals with the media?

This blackmailing of Meta (Facebook) comes as the Senate considers Bill C-18, which would force Meta and Google to negotiate royalty agreements with news media.

C-18 does not dictate how much Meta and Google should pay the news media, but forces them to negotiate royalty agreements. Otherwise, the two parties will go to arbitration before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which will decide.

Admittedly, Meta and Google already have agreements with certain media (ex: Tea Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, The duty), but the possibility of Ottawa getting involved was no doubt a powerful incentive to conclude these agreements. With C-18, we are thus establishing a fairer framework for negotiations, among other things for the small independent media, which will be able to negotiate as a group.

If C-18 passes, will Meta follow through on its threat to block the news? Only the company knows this answer.

In theory, nothing would prevent him from doing so. But users would then have a less interesting experience, since they would no longer be able to consult news media on Facebook and Instagram.

The Trudeau government does not believe in this threat, reiterated Monday by the Canadian leaders of Meta before a parliamentary committee in Ottawa. “It’s not surprising, but it’s disappointing to see Facebook doing the same as in Australia. It didn’t work there and it won’t work here,” says the office of Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez.

Meta, which with Google monopolizes 80% of online advertising, adopted the same strategy in Australia in February 2021 when elected officials tabled a bill to force Meta and Google to pay royalties to the media for journalistic content. Meta’s response: remove news media articles from its platforms for five days. There was an uproar, Meta delivered the news, and the Australian law was passed.

Today, this law is a success: Meta and Google have concluded more than thirty agreements with Australian media to pay them royalties in order to finance journalistic content. Meta has agreed with seven of the nine largest media outlets in Australia, Google with eight of them. Many of these deals would not have happened without Australian law, and Australian media as a whole would receive over 200 million Australian dollars a year.

It’s worth standing up to Facebook and Google on this issue, as Australia did. For three reasons.

First, on the merits, it is believed that Google and Facebook, which monopolize 80% of digital advertising revenue, must pay royalties to the media for the value of journalistic content, which contributes to the popularity of their platforms. This is also the opinion of the organization News Media Canada, which represents 560 media, including The Press and all the major daily newspapers in the country.

Second, there is a lot of money at stake. The federal Parliamentary Budget Officer estimates that these agreements could generate approximately $329 million in annual revenue for the news media. Basically, it would pay 30% of the costs of producing the news (eg 30% of the salaries of print journalists). This would be a significant contribution to an ecosystem that remains financially fragile, but is critical to the health of our democracy.

Third, we saw in Australia how the film ends: Meta pays almost all of the Australian media for their content and continues to operate (and be profitable, one must assume) in this country. Google too.

C-18 must therefore be adopted this spring so that all news media can quickly negotiate fair and equitable royalty agreements.

Facebook’s threat to block the news is just more evidence that lawmakers need to intervene.