• by Ray Schultz , September 3, 2023

Canada has issued draft regulations that would require Google to offer $172 million and Facebook $62 million per year to compensate publishers for using their content, as required by the Online News Act (C-18), CBC adds.

This would seem to address fears of uncapped liability. But Meta has rejected this “clarification” and continues to block news content in reaction to the law. 

"As the legislation is based on the incorrect assertion that Meta benefits unfairly from the news content shared on our platforms, today's proposed regulations will not impact our business decision to end news availability in Canada," says Rachel Curran, head of public policy at Meta Canada.

However, the Trudeau government says it is merely trying to level the playing field. 

"The goal of it is to make sure that those that benefit the most from the Canadian market fall under the bill," said Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge. 

The act applies to companies with annual global revenue of $1 billion that have 20 million average unique visitors per month in the country, according to CBC. 

The tech giants argue that they help local news publishers by linking to their content. (They could also point out that many news sites they link to have paywalls and thus have a form of compensation).

The law takes effect next year, and Google has also said it will block news content. Meta started doing so earlier this month. 

In response to Meta's action, the federal government pulled $10 million in annual advertising from Meta's platforms. News and telecommunications businesses Quebecor, Bell Media, Torstar Corp., Cogeco, and Postmedia Network Canada Corp. also withdrew advertising.