Date of publication: Apr 5, 2022 • 12 hours ago • 5 minutes reading • 110 comments Cultural Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez today introduced a bill to oblige digital giants to compensate the Canadian media for reusing their news content. Photo by Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press / File
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OTAWA – Major digital platforms such as Google and Facebook will have to make “fair trade deals” with Canadian news publishers – and if they do not, they will face mandatory bidding and final bidding arbitration.
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The Liberal government on Tuesday outlined bill C-18, the Internet News Act, which would force major online platforms to share revenue with news publishers. News companies will be able to negotiate collectively and the government expects publishers to be able to start the negotiation process within six to 12 months. Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez told reporters that tech giants such as Google and Meta, Facebook’s parent company, “continue to benefit from sharing and distributing Canadian news content without really having to pay.” “With this bill, we seek to address this market imbalance.” As originally reported by the National Post last week, the CRTC will be the regulator responsible for the new regime and some trade agreements will be excluded from the negotiation process. The CRTC will have the power to impose fines of up to $ 15 million a day on non-compliant platforms, the government said.
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Rodriguez said the CRTC’s role would be “very limited, very lenient” because the regulator would not be responsible for the actual arbitration process – it would depend on an independent arbitrator agreed by both parties. He said the government chose the CRTC because it has experience with arbitration in the broadcasting system. The government will outline the exemption criteria that trade agreements must meet. Digital platforms that have entered into such agreements with publishers will request an exemption and the CRTC will decide if they qualify. The criteria that the CRTC will use to determine whether existing agreements qualify for an exemption include whether they provide “fair compensation” and whether “an appropriate portion of the compensation” is used to “support the production of local, regional and national news content”.
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Agreements should also ensure that agreements “do not allow corporate influence to undermine the freedom of expression and journalistic independence enjoyed by the media”. If the two sides do not reach an agreement or the CRTC says that the existing agreements do not meet the conditions, the news companies will start mandatory negotiations, with arbitration of the final offer as a “last resort”. Facebook and Google have already signed commercial agreements with some publishers in Canada. When Australia first introduced similar legislation, both companies opposed it. Asked about their reactions on Tuesday, both companies said they were “carefully considering” Canadian law. Google said it was considering the bill to “understand its implications. “We fully support Canada ‘s access to credible news and look forward to working with the government to strengthen Canada’ s news industry.”
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Rachel Curran, Meta’s public policy manager, issued a similar statement. “We are currently examining the proposed legislation in detail and look forward to consulting with stakeholders as soon as we fully understand what the bill entails.” Rodriguez said the government has had many discussions with Google and Meta. “I personally met with them,” he said. “They were open to regulation. “Now, there are things that agree or disagree about the bill, we will learn in future discussions, but I must say that these conversations were very honest, sincere and very, I would say, nice.” The platforms must comply with the “unjustified preference” rules, which means that they can not prefer or unfairly discriminate against an individual or organization, prevent Canadians from accessing the news, or impede the independence of the press.
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Rodriguez said the digital giants would have to comply with a “code of conduct” that would force them to “act responsibly”. “For example, a platform could not say, ‘I will be privileged to search for certain news agencies with which I have an agreement; if this is discovered, then you may miss the exception and go back to the beginning.’ Although the law targets Facebook and Google, which earn 80 percent of online advertising revenue in Canada, it does not name these platforms or others that may be covered by name. It will apply to platforms that “allow access to and share of news content on their platforms and have a significant negotiating imbalance with news companies”. Print, online news and broadcasters, as well as non-Canadian stores that operate here and meet the criteria, will be eligible under the law. Those who are defined as a certified news organization under income tax law will be eligible, as will entities that meet criteria such as the activity and regular employment of two or more journalists in Canada.
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Rodriguez said the government would not be responsible for identifying eligible news organizations. Instead, the CRTC will make this call. Groups representing Canadian broadcasters and newscasters praised the new bill. News Media Canada called on lawmakers and senators to pass legislation by June. “This legislation leveles the playing field and gives Canadian news publishers a fair shot and does not require additional funds from taxpayers,” said Jamie Irving, president of News Media Canada. The Canadian Association of Broadcasters said it “welcomes the introduction of the Bill C-18 as an important step in recognizing the value of broadcasters’ news content and providing the necessary framework for fair negotiations between news organizations and online platforms”.
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Andrew MacLeod, president and CEO of Postmedia (which publishes the National Post), said the news industry’s ability to come together and negotiate with Google and Facebook will not make the relationship symmetrical, but “Creates some degree of parity”. He said it represents the “beginning of a turning point” for the news industry, which is in the process of creating new digital revenue streams. “But this process takes time and we need some inputs to our model. “And we need an opportunity to work with other players in our ecosystem, very big, dominant, strong players.” MacLeod said it was historically difficult to negotiate with such powerful places as Google and Facebook. “I believe that this legislation creates an environment where we can negotiate for fairer and more equal conditions of competition, which will then allow us to build the ongoing transformation of our industry.” He added that the bill could also offer an opportunity to “restore relations” with Google and Facebook. “There was a lot of rhetoric on both sides. “A lot of criticism,” he said. “And now that the legislation seems to be moving forward, in a perfect world, we could all seize the opportunity to re-establish relationships and find ways to coexist as partners.”
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