Caught in the Crossfire

The law meant to make Google and Meta pay royalties for using Canadian news has backfired spectacularly, resulting in the censorship of independent media across the country. 

Bill C-18 — which received royal assent last June — was supposed to force the tech giants to compensate news outlets for using their content on sites like Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Threads. Instead, it’s given them an excuse to remove thousands of articles and videos from the platforms. 

Meta and Google announced their intention to block users in Canada from seeing Canadian news several months ago. The block finally rolled out en masse earlier this month. But even before then, outlets had experienced Meta censorship for weeks, as Meta ran “tests” by shutting out specifically, and in the first place, independent media like Pivot, The Breach, The Rover and The Resolve. 

In an interview with Indiegraf — a platform that hosts 19 independently-owned Canadian news outlets — Meta Canada’s head of public policy, Rachel Curran, claimed that the law is not suitable for the web giant and that it had no intention of reversing its decision to block Canadian content unless Bill C-18 is amended. New Minister of Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge is the fourth member of Justin Trudeau’s cabinet to take a crack at regulating. 

In an interview with La Presse, St-Onge said Ottawa will not bend to Meta and Google. 

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“I hope Canada doesn’t back down and stands up to Meta and Google. So far, this is the case, but I do not know where the discussions are at,” said Alain Saulnier, the former managing editor at Radio-Canada. “But for sure, many are following the showdown between the government and these companies.”

Indeed, the state of California is in the process of imposing their own similar law on Big Tech, “even more severe than here”, according to Saulnier. France and New Zealand could also follow suit in creating a law to require negotiations with GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon). 

“I think Meta is feeling the heat and that’s why it’s pushing against C-18. We are at a turning point, here as elsewhere, in terms of negotiations with these companies, which have taken on too much power.”

Indie media, absent from Bill C-18

Even before the announcement of Bill C-18, which is set to take effect next December, independent media publishers were worried about their absence from the discussion table around the Act.

Based on the Australian model, the law forces Big Tech to negotiate with new outlets a form of royalty in exchange for their content shared on the various platforms. But as of now, only the biggest players have benefitted. Le Devoir, La Presse, the Toronto Star and other legacy media already had agreements with Google and Meta before the adoption of the law. 

Most of these agreements were cancelled by the two companies after the law passed.

The Australian model that inspired C-18 has also favoured the largest media companies. According to an analysis by Canadian journalist Sue Gardner, 90 per cent of the revenues negotiated with Big Tech in Australia were granted to the three largest media groups in that country.

“I have often insisted on the fact that the independent media should be part of the discussion when I was invited to give my opinion on C-18,” Saulnier said.

Smaller media are demanding that Bill C-18 must include their newsrooms, on an equal basis, and not leave them on their own to negotiate with Big Tech. This is the case for the independent media association Press Forward, which works to encourage strong and independent, accessible, innovative and inclusive information for Canadians. Press Forward has been campaigning for more than a year to have a voice in the development of the law.

“As new entrants, we do not yet have the name brand recognition of the large legacy news brands in Canada. And we may not have the resources to weather the storm while the platforms and the government engage in power plays”, reads the group’s latest press release. “In this uncertain time, small publishers that represent the future of independent media in Canada must be given a seat at the table in the coming months as regulations for the Online News Act are formed.”

Getting around GAFA

Gardner and other critics have also pointed out that media cannot rely on social media as a business model. They believe the media should be thinking of other ways to get their content to readers.  

But can media outlets in 2023 really survive without social networks to distribute their content and reach different audiences, especially young independent media? 

“Of course, it’s a real issue, but it’s also an opportunity, in my opinion, to think about other ways to make yourself known. Why do we let American and Chinese companies [TikTok] decide what is good or bad content?” Saulnier said.

He evokes the idea of creating a national network, to meet our own information needs. 

“We would have all the resources here to set up a social network in our image, with experts in programming, artificial intelligence, etc.,” said the media expert. Radio-Canada was created in the 1930s in response to the growing influence of American radio. 

“Meta was considered revolutionary, but it might be overrated, and it is maybe time to find an alternative. When you go to war, you must have a plan for after,” he said.

In the meantime, media outlets are using their creativity to encourage their readership to get information directly from their websites and to subscribe to their newsletters to bypass social networks. But the impact of the shutdown is already being felt – especially in independent media — in lost readers, and ultimately, lost revenue.

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About the author

Gabrielle Brassard-Lecours is an independent journalist, co-founder of Pivot Media, university lecturer and president of the Association des Journalistes Indépendants du Québec.