Facebook parent company Meta threatens to pull news from platform in California if journalism bill passes
FOX NewsJun 05, 2023
The Facts
On Thursday, Google announced it would pull Canadian news from its search engine and other products in response to the Online News Act, which received royal assent in June and must take effect within the next six months.
The Online News Act, also known as Bill C-18, sets rules for online platforms to negotiate commercial deals to pay news publishers for content to try to create fair revenue sharing between the two sides.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
This wasn’t an easy decision, but it had to be made in the face of an unworkable bill that hasn’t taken the tech companies’ suggestions into consideration. Canada is only hurting itself because now it won’t receive any money from the big tech firms, and the country’s major media associations and outlets will lose the traffic Google and Meta generate. The government should negotiate a better deal with these companies.
Establishment-critical narrative
It’s obscene that these big tech firms would rather spend money to rework their platforms to exclude Canadian sources rather than pay a small portion of their billions to compensate those who are creating the content. This is nothing more than bullying; the Canadian government shouldn’t capitulate, and Canadian news consumers should do their part by going directly to the sources of the content.
