The Online News Act, better known by its bill number — C-18 — raises many questions. Here are some answers to help you understand what’s going on in the Canadian news world right now.
What are the provisions of the law?
The Online News Act was designed primarily to force Google (Alphabet) and Facebook (Meta) to negotiate fair compensation with Canadian media this year. If no agreement satisfactory to Ottawa is reached, all the provisions of the Act will fall on the shoulders of these platforms before the end of the year. Each media could at this time oblige them to appear before an arbitrator who will determine the fair compensation to be offered.
It is the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that has the role of deciding whether Google and Facebook finance enough media to be exempt from the risk of arbitration. It also has the power to punish them for violations, for a maximum of $15 million.
When will the removal of news on Google and Meta platforms take effect?
Exactly when the platforms intend to exclude links to domestic news sites is not known. Google and Meta both conducted tests this year to limit the appearance of news to a small portion of their Canadian users. These tests are still underway on Facebook, which however plans to end the availability of the news in the country “in the coming weeks”. In the meantime, links to news articles can be shared as normal.
For its part, Google has indicated that it does not intend to block content from Canadian media companies on its platforms until the law is officially in force. The full coming into force of the Act is expected no later than 180 days after royal assent of Bill C-18, namely December 19.
How will it now be possible to access Canadian news content?
The easiest way to access news produced by Canadian media organizations is to buy it directly.
The easiest way is to subscribe directly to the publications of your choice, an effective way to stay informed without depending on the digital giants, which the Act could also have encouraged. On the Internet, this is done by visiting the website of the publications that interest you, or even by agreeing to receive alerts on your web browser.
Multiple media, including The dutyalso offer, on a daily, weekly or other basis, newsletters that allow you to consult their news from your email inbox.
The same way of consuming information applies to mobile devices, where it is also possible for those who prefer it to download to their device the applications offered directly by the media to consult their content in this environment, rather than going through a social network.
Why should these web giants share their revenue?
The Trudeau government has chosen to cash out the biggest web platforms, which are currently Google and Facebook. The companies that own them capture nearly 80% of Internet advertising revenue and benefit from an “imbalance” in bargaining power with the media, according to Ottawa.
Only the dominant companies in the social media and online search market are targeted by the law, which excludes tech giants like Apple and Microsoft, even if their platforms also share news from Canadian media
The Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, considers that Google and Facebook benefit from the sharing of content created at high cost by Canadian media “without having to really pay for it”, at a time when many of these media are suffering financial difficulties.
The platforms are of a different opinion. Both Facebook and Google have told parliamentarians that they have reached agreements with several hand-picked media, including The duty. These agreements are now in jeopardy. Google has put the value of some 3.6 billion clicks sent by its search engine to Canadian news sites in one year at $250 million.
What will be the consequences for the Canadian media of the removal of news from Meta and Google?
Media companies affected by the measures put forward by Google and Meta could lose a good part of their online visibility. Meta will no longer share its content on its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, while Google will remove any form of link that leads to their sites, whether in Google News or in its search engine results.
The impact of these measures will vary from one medium to another. Generally, it is estimated that at least 20% — and sometimes up to more than 60% — of visitors to news sites in Canada come from a Google search. Between 15 and 20% of these visits come from a link shared on social networks. A drop in traffic will result in a reduction in advertising revenue for publishers, since it is calculated based on traffic.
In addition, several media outlets with which Meta and Google had already entered into agreements, including The duty, announced that these partnerships were now in jeopardy. These direct financial losses for the media are difficult to quantify, since the amounts of these contracts are kept confidential.
How will my browsing experience on Facebook and Instagram be impacted by the removal of news?
We do not yet know the official list of media companies for which the provisions of the Law will apply. It will be up to the CRTC to establish this list. Meta and Google say they rely on the definition of media contained in the Act, a definition perceived as extremely broad.
The Act stipulates that the media fall within its scope if their main mission is to report on any current issue or event of public interest, explain it or follow up on an investigation of this issue or event.
On the platform side, we illustrate this definition by saying that any media organization established in Canada and whose readership or audience is also located in Canada could be blocked. News from foreign media should continue to be published and shared. Conversely, it is not impossible that content shared on the networks by Canadian media or the search results of Internet users outside Canada appear in the newsfeed.
In other words, the blocking measures considered should drive out content from legitimate media companies, while advertising content, viral content, disinformation content, among others, will appear in greater numbers on the feed of Canadian Internet users. .
Is Google and Meta’s decision to remove Canadian media news from their platforms final?
No. In fact, there is a possibility that the threat will never be carried out. Or if it is, it could only last for a while. In Australia, in 2021, people briefly saw news disappear from their Facebook feed when the country passed a C-18-like law. A compromise finally gave platforms the right to evade the law by signing commercial agreements with enough media outlets, something that Canadian law already provides for.
On the side of Google, it is added that it would have been possible to avoid any blocking of media content by not imposing this six-month deadline, added by the Senate at the very end of the study of the bill. By giving digital platforms and Canadian media the chance to negotiate an agreement in good faith, we would have avoided the current chaos, it is said.