Poignantly, it was three years ago this month that the Liberal government’s plan to plunder the coffers of Big Tech in order to line the pockets of the nation’s news, film, and TV industries began to unravel.
It was in August of 2023, not long after passage of the Online News Act, that Meta began to ban links to news stories on Facebook and Instagram. That was because the premise of the legislation was that Meta and Google should be paying publishers for content they were allowed to post for free.
Critics rightly labelled the bill a shakedown, but, convinced of the value of their content, the drive by publishers to get “money from web giants” had rolled on. While publishers once fantasized about a billion-dollar bonanza, their take wound up being a $100 million Google fund split between more than 400 eligible recipients—minus the loss of commercial agreements and what Meta estimated to be more than $200 million in eyeballs value.
Thus did the folly fuelling Canada’s naive approach to the technology revolution first become blatant. Two years later, it accelerated when, with Mark Carney having replaced Justin Trudeau as prime minister, Canada kiboshed its provocative Digital Services Tax at the behest of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Then, last week, came confirmation of the final collapse of Canada’s decade-long efforts to reel in rather than ride the digital wave. It was confirmed that the government had abandoned its plan, via the Online Streaming Act and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), to force foreign streamers such as Spotify, Netflix, and Disney to fund the nation’s film, TV, music, and broadcast news industries.
Canada’s attempt to impose financial obligations on Big Tech through the Online News Act and Online Streaming Act has collapsed under American pressure. The government, now led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, has retreated from its plans to force foreign streaming services to fund local media, opting instead to rely on taxpayer money. This shift marks a significant change in the Canadian broadcasting landscape, with the government taking a more direct role in funding and regulation, leaving the future of the media industry uncertain amidst ongoing negotiations with tech giants like Meta.
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Comments (9)
I wonder what sectors in Canada don’t live off the taxpayer? It’s no wonder productivity is so low, innovation is scarce and technology adoption is always in the late adoption phase. Why work when you can milk the taxpayer. It would appear the only thing that will crash this socialist madness is the bond market and the IMF and hopefully soon.