Every era in history has known its superpowers, which have economically, militarily, culturally dominated the world – or let’s say: certain worlds.
What will be next?
It is neither China nor India nor certainly Russia, although any country possessing nuclear weapons is in a separate category.
The next ‘superpower’ is not a state, says political scientist Ian Bremmer1. These are the giants of technology and the internet. They float over states, evade their tax system, avoid law enforcement as much as possible. More fundamentally, these societies play a profound role in the formation of governments, the organization of oppositions, the techniques of war, the behavior of individuals. They are no longer simply tools, but a power, a superpower, elusive.
We have had a very small but very eloquent example of this since Thursday in Canada: Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announces that it will block all Canadian journalistic content from its platforms as soon as the Online News Act (Bill C-18).
Almost 8 in 10 adults are Facebook users in Canada. This is called a dominant position in a market…
Among 25 to 34 year olds, “social networks” in general are the main source of information. A proportion that climbs to 67% among 18 to 24 year olds, according to the Academy of Digital Transformation at Laval University.
Blocking Canadian media content on the most influential social network is therefore a political gesture of consequence, given the strength of Facebook-Meta in the oligopoly of the techno giants.
It is also, consequently, leaving room for everything else, which is made up – not only, but among other things – of conspiracy shit of varying intensity, or of disinformation organized by foreign powers. Not to mention the fraudulent and defamatory content, which pollutes their networks without them doing anything, or almost.
Someone will tell me: Facebook announced the same boycott of news in Australia when a similar law was passed, but backed down a week later.
Exactly: the company backed down because the popular reaction was virulent. She should be here too.
The newspapers are in front of Facebook a bit like in the old gag of the guy who goes to see the shrink because his brother thinks he’s a chicken, told by Woody Allen in Annie Hall.
“Bring me your brother, I’ll see what I can do, answers the shrink.
“The problem is, I need the eggs…”
The Canadian media, or what we used to call “the newspapers”, are somewhat there. On the one hand, they say their income is being stolen by the Internet giants. But on the other, they denounce censorship when Meta stops posting their articles on Facebook and Instagram.
C-18 will force the Facebooks and Googles of this world to negotiate royalties with the media for advertising revenue generated by the broadcast of journalistic content. They don’t take it.
Some critics say the law is poorly designed, will hurt journalistic innovation and bolster outdated business models2.
This is not my opinion, but what interests and worries me today is the very reaction of Facebook-Meta. It sums up the incredible power of blackmail in the hands of a few transnational corporations whose influence goes well beyond the economic order.
In just a few years, and without really noticing it, a kind of algorithmic taking possession of minds has taken place.
These techno giants, who nevertheless swear to respect the laws of all countries, are not accountable to any body, do not come up against any real counter-power.
No doubt C-18 is not the perfect model, nor the only one, for sustaining journalism worthy of the name, essential to democratic life.
But at least it’s an antibody sent into a visibly faltering media system. A minimum contribution for the abundant use of content that is expensive to produce, paying to circulate.
The threat of Meta teaches us that tech giants do indeed behave like superpowers: they don’t negotiate, they threaten.
All the more reason not to back down.