Ottawa provided details on Friday on the practical application of a new law demanding internet giants to compensate publishers for news material, including what it may cost Google and Meta.
The law attempts to aid a beleaguered Canadian journalism industry that has lost hundreds of newspapers and advertising money over the last ten years.
Effectively, it solely targets Google and Meta, which together account for nearly 80% of all Canadian internet advertising sales.
By compelling the two businesses to enter into reasonable commercial agreements with Canadian outlets for the news and information provided on their platforms, or face binding arbitration, the government projected that it may cost the two corporations a combined total of Can$230 million (US$170 million).
The restrictions would be applicable to businesses with worldwide annual sales above $1 billion Canadian, running a search engine or social media platform that actively distributes news and is utilized by at least 20 million Canadians.
In response, Meta labeled the legislation as “fundamentally flawed” and threatened to keep preventing access to news content on its Facebook and Instagram platforms in Canada. This behavior began on August 1.
Google stated it will “carefully study the proposed regulations to assess whether they address (its) major structural challenges.” Google has also expressed opposition to the Online News Act.
For news and information, Canadians have grown to depend on digital media, according to Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge.
According to her, “These tech platforms must behave responsibly and support the news sharing from which both they and Canadians benefit.”
The “tech giants can and must contribute their fair share —- nothing more.”