Ottawa to adapt Online News Act in light of standoff with tech giants

Canadian Heritage says work is underway to determine how, when and which portions of the act will be implemented

Nationalpost.com
July 11, 2023

With less than six months before the Online News Act comes into force, the federal government has signalled that it wants to refine the legislation in a way that could de-escalate a standoff with Meta and Google over news blocking.

Planned adjustments to the act, posted by Heritage Canada in an online notice Monday, refer to clarifying the criteria under which news-aggregator platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Google can qualify for exemptions to the mandatory government-bargaining scheme.

The language is similar to that used by Australia to end a similar standoff in Australia between the government and the tech giants.

“It’s clarifying the conditions under which platforms could become exempt under the act,” said Dwayne Winseck, a professor with Carleton University’s school of journalism and communications

In the announcement, Heritage Canada said work was underway to determine how, when and which portions of the act will be implemented, no later than 180 days after the act received royal assent on June 22.

“The GIC, on the recommendation of the Minister of Canadian Heritage, can make regulations regarding which digital platforms the Act applies to and how the CRTC interprets the criteria in the Act for platforms to obtain an exemption from mandatory bargaining and final offer arbitration,” said the announcement.

In the note, Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez outlined five key areas that would be covered under the new regulations. Among them is refining exemption criteria to consider revenue-sharing agreements struck voluntarily between platforms and news publishers, as well as emphasizing the possibility of including for consideration non-monetary compensation to news publishers, such as training or “other products.”

The Online News Act would force big technology platforms who republish Canadian news stories into mandatory revenue-sharing agreements with news publishers. Both Google and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, lobbied against the law, and both have since said they intend to block Canadian news rather than be captured by it.

Winseck said Monday’s announcement appears to indicate the federal government is trying to move the bill towards outcomes made after the 2021 enactment of Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code, which served as a template for Canada’s act.

“They (Australia) basically have held the News Media Bargaining Code in suspension, on the grounds that Google and Meta struck reasonable deals with individual news sources,” he said.

“It seems to me that that’s what we’re doing here,” he said. “The path is being broadened to that kind of outcome, than an exemption determination could be made on the grounds that they’re paying enough money funnelled towards journalism, and some of the other criteria they have in mind in respect to reviewing the sufficiency of these acts.”

The Trudeau government’s showdown with Google and Meta -- the parent company of Facebook and Instagram -- reached a fever pitch late last month after the Online News Act received royal assent.

Meta began blocking news on its platforms, leading the federal government to announce last week that, in response, it would stop advertising on Meta platforms, a move shortly followed by the Quebec government.

Rachel Curran, Meta’s Canadian head of public policy, told CBC News that the bill doesn’t “allow for negotiations outside” of the legislation’s framework, and that they’re moving towards a permanent end of Canadian news availability on their services.

“We wish we weren’t here, but we are here, and there is really nothing at this point that’s going to alter that trajectory,” she said.
In response, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Meta’s position “disappointing,” accusing the social media giant of refusing to “accept its responsibility towards our democracies by refusing to pay the fair share for Canadians to get local news and independent rigorous journalistic content.”
The development of new regulations under the Online News Act, the note said, is currently underway and subject to a consultation period from

stakeholders and members of the public.

National Post has not yet received a response from Google and Meta to a request for comment.

Rodriguez’s office said Monday he remains convinced that Google and Meta’s concerns can still be addressed.

“If Facebook (Meta) truly believes that news has no value, they can say so at the negotiating table,” read a statement from the minister’s office.

“Threats to pull news instead of complying with the laws in our country only highlight the power that platforms hold over news organizations, both big and small."