It’s August 2023. Do you know where your Canadian news is?
All Facebook and Instagram users in Canada won’t be able to access news on those platforms soon, after parent company Meta said it would shut out news in the country over the next few weeks.
The social media giant has been signalling the move since the Liberal government passed its Online News Act, Bill C-18, in June. Google may follow suit.
Many readers sent questions about the bill to our comments sections and inboxes. Here’s a sampling.
Why is this happening again?
It’s all part of a fight over the Online News Act, which became law in June.
The act says digital companies must pay news organizations when someone gets to a web story through a link on one of their products.
The government says this sort of revenue sharing is needed to make sure Canadian news continues to exist, after most advertising moved to these online platforms and wiped out a major revenue stream for journalism.
Tech giants Google and Meta see the law as a tax on links that doesn’t recognize the web traffic the companies provide news outlets.
What will I notice as a user?
On Facebook and Instagram, Canadians will no longer be able to share or view news articles and other content posted by publishers and broadcasters, including international outlets.
News links to articles, reels — which are short-form videos — or stories, which are photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours, are also expected to be affected by the block.
This screengrab taken Tuesday from the Instagram app displays a message explaining that people in Canada cannot see news content in response to the Canadian government’s legislation. (Alisha Parchment/CBC)
People outside of Canada will not see a change.
This will happen “over the course of the next few weeks,” Meta said Tuesday.
What news organizations are affected?
Meta says it will block news publishers and broadcasters in Canada and is identifying news outlets based on “legislative definitions and guidance from the Online News Act.”
The act lists several possible criteria, including:
Producing news content of “public interest”.
Regularly employing two or more journalists in Canada.
Operating in Canada, including having content edited and designed in Canada.
Belonging to a recognized journalistic association.
The CEO of Village Media, which runs 25 community news websites including Sudbury.com and Northern Ontario Business, has said Google and Meta pulling content from Canadian news outlets would “devastate” the industry.
Jeff Elgie, who says the Online News Act was flawed from the get-go, said about 50 per cent of the traffic to his company’s websites comes from Facebook and Google.
CBC News would also be blocked. The CBC’s corporate stance is in favour of the bill.
Meta has collaborated with a digital literacy expert on a guide to teach Canadians about other ways they can get news on the internet, such as going directly to publishers’ websites, downloading mobile news apps and subscribing to news alerts.
Will Google follow Meta’s lead?
Like Meta, Google has said they would remove news links in Canada before the law comes into effect by the end of the year.
Unlike Meta, Google has had talks with the government in hopes of finding a solution.
Google’s president of global affairs said, “We plan to participate in the regulatory process and will continue to be transparent with Canadians and publishers as we move forward.”
Barring a deal, when the law goes into effect at the end of the year, Google says it will be removing links to Canadian news from search, news pages and its curated content feed, Google Discover.
The company has said the block will apply only to Canadian publishers. Canadian users will still be able to find news produced by international outlets such as the BBC, the New York Times and Fox News.
The company said it will also end Google News Showcase in Canada, a product it uses to license news from over 150 local publishers. Those existing deals will stay in place until the change happens.
What about YouTube? Threads?
Google’s parent company Alphabet also owns YouTube, but the video platform already allows users, including media outlets, to monetize their content. It’s also possible to embed a link back to a news article in the video itself and in the video description.
Meta’s new social networking service Threads “could be” regulated under the act as well, the now-former heritage minister Pablo Rodriguez said last month before the Liberals’ most recent cabinet shuffle.
What about emergency notifications?
Meta said it learned from the mistakes it made as it temporarily blocked online news from Facebook in Australia after the country passed a similar law in 2021 — and in doing so, accidentally limited access to emergency services pages.
Rachel Curran, head of public policy for Meta Canada, told the House of Commons heritage committee earlier this year that the company “absolutely” wants to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen in Canada.
Curran said that would mean not applying any potential blocks to government pages, emergency services or community organizations.
Google has said it will continue its SOS Alerts on search and map results. The alerts are activated during natural disasters to help make emergency information easily accessible during a crisis.
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Dollarama Inc.’s food aisles may have expanded far beyond sweet treats or piles of gum by the checkout counter in recent years, but its chief executive maintains his company is “not in the grocery business,” even if it’s keeping an eye on the sector.
“It’s just one small part of our store,” Neil Rossy told analysts on a Wednesday call, where he was questioned about the company’s food merchandise and rivals playing in the same space.
“We will keep an eye on all retailers — like all retailers keep an eye on us — to make sure that we’re competitive and we understand what’s out there.”
Over the last decade and as consumers have more recently sought deals, Dollarama’s food merchandise has expanded to include bread and pantry staples like cereal, rice and pasta sold at prices on par or below supermarkets.
However, the competition in the discount segment of the market Dollarama operates in intensified recently when the country’s biggest grocery chain began piloting a new ultra-discount store.
The No Name stores being tested by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in Windsor, St. Catharines and Brockville, Ont., are billed as 20 per cent cheaper than discount retail competitors including No Frills. The grocery giant is able to offer such cost savings by relying on a smaller store footprint, fewer chilled products and a hearty range of No Name merchandise.
Though Rossy brushed off notions that his company is a supermarket challenger, grocers aren’t off his radar.
“All retailers in Canada are realistic about the fact that everyone is everyone’s competition on any given item or category,” he said.
Rossy declined to reveal how much of the chain’s sales would overlap with Loblaw or the food category, arguing the vast variety of items Dollarama sells is its strength rather than its grocery products alone.
“What makes Dollarama Dollarama is a very wide assortment of different departments that somewhat represent the old five-and-dime local convenience store,” he said.
The breadth of Dollarama’s offerings helped carry the company to a second-quarter profit of $285.9 million, up from $245.8 million in the same quarter last year as its sales rose 7.4 per cent.
The retailer said Wednesday the profit amounted to $1.02 per diluted share for the 13-week period ended July 28, up from 86 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The period the quarter covers includes the start of summer, when Rossy said the weather was “terrible.”
“The weather got slightly better towards the end of the summer and our sales certainly increased, but not enough to make up for the season’s horrible start,” he said.
Sales totalled $1.56 billion for the quarter, up from $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year.
Comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, increased 4.7 per cent, while the average transaction was down2.2 per cent and traffic was up seven per cent, RBC analyst Irene Nattel pointed out.
She told investors in a note that the numbers reflect “solid demand as cautious consumers focus on core consumables and everyday essentials.”
Analysts have attributed such behaviour to interest rates that have been slow to drop and high prices of key consumer goods, which are weighing on household budgets.
To cope, many Canadians have spent more time seeking deals, trading down to more affordable brands and forgoing small luxuries they would treat themselves to in better economic times.
“When people feel squeezed, they tend to shy away from discretionary, focus on the basics,” Rossy said. “When people are feeling good about their wallet, they tend to be more lax about the basics and more willing to spend on discretionary.”
The current economic situation has drawn in not just the average Canadian looking to save a buck or two, but also wealthier consumers.
“When the entire economy is feeling slightly squeezed, we get more consumers who might not have to or want to shop at a Dollarama generally or who enjoy shopping at a Dollarama but have the luxury of not having to worry about the price in some other store that they happen to be standing in that has those goods,” Rossy said.
“Well, when times are tougher, they’ll consider the extra five minutes to go to the store next door.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered TD Bank Group to pay US$28 million for repeatedly sharing inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies.
The agency says TD has to pay US$7.76 million in total to tens of thousands of victims of its illegal actions, along with a US$20 million civil penalty.
It says TD shared information that contained systemic errors about credit card and bank deposit accounts to consumer reporting companies, which can include credit reports as well as screening reports for tenants and employees and other background checks.
CFPB director Rohit Chopra says in a statement that TD threatened the consumer reports of customers with fraudulent information then “barely lifted a finger to fix it,” and that regulators will need to “focus major attention” on TD Bank to change its course.
TD says in a statement it self-identified these issues and proactively worked to improve its practices, and that it is committed to delivering on its responsibilities to its customers.
The bank also faces scrutiny in the U.S. over its anti-money laundering program where it expects to pay more than US$3 billion in monetary penalties to resolve.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
