{"id":57191,"date":"2023-09-21T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thehub.ca\/?p=57191"},"modified":"2023-09-19T18:04:16","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T22:04:16","slug":"peter-menzies-its-hard-to-see-how-the-governments-online-news-mess-can-be-cleaned-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehub.ca\/2023-09-21\/peter-menzies-its-hard-to-see-how-the-governments-online-news-mess-can-be-cleaned-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Menzies: It\u2019s hard to see how the government’s online news mess can be cleaned up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
One Elvis has left the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another is still taking requests but no one knows for how long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first is Meta. As we are all aware by now, it decided, following the June passage of the Online News Act<\/em> (Bill C-18), to no longer allow its Facebook, Instagram, and Threads users to post links to news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That exit from news carriage has already resulted in economic harm to online news innovators who lost a key (and free) platform they once used to build audiences. Entrepreneurial companies such as Village Media<\/em> have called a halt to growth while long-established publishers are losing millions of dollars in sorely needed revenue due to the loss of traffic Meta once drove to their websites. The pain will only grow for all sectors of the news industry as Meta winds down its funding arrangements for journalism rather than being forced to pay for the privilege of delivering it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Google is the other offshore \u201cWeb Giant\u201d targeted by Bill C-18, which compels the global behemoths to subsidize approved Canadian news organizations through faux \u201ccommercial\u201d agreements reached at the point of a legislative gun and approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It has indicated it is also prepared to disengage from its current journalism supports and de-index Canadian news organizations from its search engine rather than play along with what many view as a shakedown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Google, though, hasn\u2019t entirely given up on Canada, or if it has it isn\u2019t saying. While skeptical, it has officially remained open to the idea that Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge can allay its primary concerns through the regulations that always follow the passage of legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chief among its worries is that Bill C-18 exposes Google to unlimited financial liability (in other words they had no idea how much they would have to pay to satisfy the demands of Postmedia, Bell, the Toronto Star, Rogers, and many, many others). It also mistrusts the idea that regulations could be \u201cfuture-proofed.\u201d Like Meta, Google is glaringly aware that whatever it agrees to in Canada will be replicated globally as media outlets in other countries look to belly up to the Big Tech bar. As one source told me, \u201cmultiply it by at least 50\u201d when it comes to the potential worldwide cost of Bill C-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The regulations were published in draft form on Sept. 1. St-Onge declared them \u201creasonable,\u201d having forecast optimism they would quickly lead to Google and Meta reaching the desired arrangements with news organizations and all would be well by Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Forget it, said Meta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs we have communicated to the government, the regulatory process is not equipped to address the fundamentally flawed premise of the Online News Act<\/em>,\u201d it said in a statement. \u201cAs the legislation is based on the incorrect assertion that Meta benefits unfairly from the news content shared on our platforms, today\u2019s proposed regulations will not impact our business decision to end news availability in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Google indicated only that it would engage in the process, which gave interested parties 30 days to comment on the draft regulations before they are finalized and come into force no later than Dec. 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But based on what St-Onge has laid out so far, happiness remains a long shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n