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In the age of information and technology, Canada’s Bill C-18 has brought considerable change. It makes international companies like Google and Meta pay Canadian media for the work they do. The idea was that this bill would be implemented with the vision of protecting the Canadian media industry. However, the aftermath of this text speaks a different tone.
The users of Facebook and Instagram in Canada were baffled in early 2024: the news content was nowhere to be found on their applications anymore. Conclusively this gives rise to some important questions: is this bill indeed a form of protection for Canadian media, or does it put at risk the consumption of news in the Canadian population in the future?
As a matter of fact, a report from the Canadian Media Consortium confirmed that the traffic to Canadian news websites registered a decrease of more than 30% on average, as a result of the implementation of the decision made by Meta.
Even though Google has not at this point taken any radical action like Meta has, the company has made it much harder to locate Canadian news through its search engine. This reveals a Commonwealth issue that can ultimately be attributed to the C-18 bill.
How Bill C-18 will Change the Canadian News Landscape
Unquestionably, Bill C-18 has made it possible for news companies and tech companies to agree when it comes to receiving compensation, but the results have been conflicting. Perhaps this is exactly what the feisty Canadian Journalism Foundation had in mind when it reported on how Meta’s actions have come about.
The sad reality is while Canadian content generates ad dollars for global tech companies, they fail to share this revenue fairly with Canadian local media houses who end up further losing out on the monetization of that content.
Additional figures illustrate that social media platforms are a significant source of news: Before the content removal, in 2023, 52% of Canada’s population used Facebook to get news updates, while 78% of Canadian adults used social media as their primary news outlet. These statistics show how intertwined social media and the news industry are in Canada and, therefore, how positive or negative the effects of Bill C-18 could be.
Industry Leaders and Journalists Weigh In: The Concerns of the Digital World
With such drastic changes taking place, some people have started raising their voices. Harley Finkelstein, Shopify’s President, voiced his concerns on Twitter when he said:
It’s almost 2025, and yet here we are in Canada, unable to post links on most social media platforms to news articles from any Canadian media.
— Harley Finkelstein (@harleyf) December 29, 2024
Why? Bill C-18, the Online News Act, passed in June 2023, forces platforms like Meta and Google to pay publishers for linking to their…
To say that Finkelstein’s remarks represent wider fears of Canadians seeking freedom of speech and free information to Bill C18 would not be an understatement, and he has company in his critique. According to entrepreneur Jesse Rodgers, the Canadian government should no longer have the misconception that global businesses consider the Canadian market important since these businesses all put that theory to the test:
Our government consistently believes the Canadian market is worth it to global companies. They keep being shown it isn’t.
— Jesse Rodgers (@jrodgers) December 29, 2024
Such criticism is not mere speculation. Evidence provided by Media Ecosystem Observatory suggests that Meta has stripped its users of news coverage which has decreased the amount of news coverage through social media platforms by 20% exhibiting the repercussions caused by the bill.
Ex-journalist Susan Carroll agrees that journalists should be remunerated, however, she goes on to point out a problem with how Bill C-18 is making matters direr:
May I just note, as a former journalist and newspaper editor, that if no one pays for journalism, no one gets or is entitled to it. Professionals need to be paid.
— Susan Carroll (@susan_chilton) December 30, 2024
According to Dan Shannon, an award-winning filmmaker, there is a need to reach a compromise between ensuring the financial stability of news media and ensuring that the internet remains free and open:
Agreed on all counts; we really need to balance the intended design of the bill, to protect the financial viability of news media (faced with smarter online ad businesses giants currently eating their breakfast), with a free internet open to global opportunities. In my own corner…
— Dan Shannon (@danshannon) December 29, 2024
What is the Role of Canada? Approaches to Balance Journalism and Digital Economy
Currently, Canada is in a situation where it has to consider one of two options—either go on with the existing disposition on the bill or amend it to harmonize journalism and tech. In that respect, several resolutions are available:
Promote Collaborative Models Between News Outlets and Tech Giants
It’s possible for Canadian news organizations to work with tech companies instead of demanding payment for their content, those include joint partnerships in which tech companies provide advertising revenue in exchange for joint funding of Canadian projects. By doing such procedures technologically advanced companies retain their relevance as suppliers but are required to compensate for the services provided.
Increase Public Funding for Canadian Journalism
In addition to collaboration with businesses, state aid can also be a solution to the problem. For some time now, The UK and France have been aiding journalists who work in the sphere of freelancing, this is a sure concept that Canada could try and pick up. If it’s regulated effectively, this type of funding would be beneficial in this era of reduced advertising revenues as it will allow the local strata of the markets to expand.
Launch Public Awareness Campaigns
With news consumption shifting to platforms like Facebook, it would seem imperative for local Canadians to realize the necessity of supporting grassroots journalism. A national campaign could emphasize the necessity of informative Canadian media. Encouraging citizens to visit the sites of the news outlets might alleviate the negative impacts caused by Bill C-18.
Review and Amend Bill C-18
But perhaps a flexible approach to regulations could do the trick. Maybe Canada is looking to amend Bill C-18 after considering feedback from practitioners in the industries and ensuring that it meets the demands of the fast-paced technological world. A stratified system would allow the more viable small and independent providers access to higher visibility of their products on tech platforms while major players in the industry were forced to receive fair payment as well.
Stats to Watch:
- 63% of Canadians are opposed to the new changes proposed to Bill C-18 and maintaining that both smaller outlets and tech companies be encouraged to use more flexibility in all their operations.
- Over half (52 percent) of the respondents in a study conducted among Canadian news publishers feel that if the regulations were less rigid, it would benefit them in adjusting to the digital transition.
A Digital Dilemma—Finding the Right Path Forward
With rapid digitalization all around, Canada has to think of some way of safeguarding the journalist sector without the interference of negating gains that knowledge exchange brings along. The implication of the letters at the onset of this bill was that businesses in the space ought to distribute earnings for content acquired from them appropriately.
Nevertheless, unintended consequences have made it worrisome with regard to Canadian journalism on the whole especially the media houses that have been left dependent on advertisement or other marketing in a bid to attract visitors, or social media which provides news for users who do not wish to squander their time looking for it.
The question is whether Canada can conceptualize the appropriate change in policy that will ensure equitable compensation to Canadian news retailers while at the same time allowing the free flow of information. If Canada has any ambitions to remain at the pinnacle of the international digital economy, a more aggressive stance that does not see the past, but rather focuses on the new opportunities ahead of us is needed.
Under the current circumstances, the time is not on Canada’s side. In other words, this is a race against time. Legislators are supposed to determine whether Canada is capable of preserving its reputation in the international sphere even if digital activities increase.
It is only Canadian policymakers who can help Canada’s journalism not to be a victim of the race for digitalization.
Last Updated on by Saket Kumar
