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Ottawa's targeting web giants, not media licences, says Minister Guilbeault. But what's his plan? – iPolitics.ca

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Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault is ploughing ahead with his plan to have big tech “pay their fair share,” but says he isn’t sure why there’s a lingering perception that his government is looking to censor, or regulate media. 

Since taking over the Heritage portfolio after the 2019 federal election, Guilbeault has sought to introduce help for media companies struggling from declining advertising revenue. 

“I have said a number of times we’re not going to license media,” he told iPolitics. “We don’t think (web giants) are paying their fair share when it comes to compensating media for the use of Canadian media’s content.” 

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Guilbeault first came under fire just weeks into his mandate, for what was perceived to be an effort on his part to credential media, following the release of the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel’s report in January. The highly-anticipated report, dubbed the Yale Report, included a recommendation that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) determine which news aggregators are trustworthy, and require links to those sites, with rules to ensure the links are prominently displayed.

The minister responded to this recommendation on CTV’s Question Period, saying that the government would look to “proportionally” license media organizations.

Following criticism to his remarks, Guilbeault was quick to walk back his comments, clarifying the government has no intention to license media — a position he’s since retained. 

The minister also told iPolitics that while the Yale Report maintains the recommendation for media licensing, it’s not a “government position,” adding that he’s clearly explained his intentions to have web giants pay through a regulatory framework that would fund Canadian media, rather than taxes collected by the feds. 

READ MORE: Feds have no intentions to license news organizations, Heritage Minister clarifies

Last month, Guilbeault held a town hall on “how to reset the journalism industry,” described as an opportunity for stakeholders to share ideas for reviving the journalism sector in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused a further loss of advertising revenue.

The minister also fielded questions about whether the government has more plans to regulate or create licences for Canadian media companies, following last month’s throne speech which signalled intentions to make web giants pay.

“Things must change, and will change,” Gov. Gen. Payette said. “The Government will act to ensure their revenue is shared more fairly with our creators and media, and will also require them to contribute to the creation, production, and distribution of our stories, on screen, in lyrics, in music, and in writing.”

“I’m not sure where you saw in the speech from the throne were some of my comments with anything regarding censorship or licensing,” Guilbeault responded to one question in the town hall. “I mean, some on the right have claimed that this is what we were doing — it’s not.”

READ MORE: News media industry’s troubles intensify during COVID-19 pandemic

The federal government has already announced some $595 million in tax measures for the journalism sector. This includes a Journalism Labour Tax Credit, which allows any Qualified Canadian Journalism Organization (QCJO) to apply for a 25 per cent refundable tax credit on salaries or wages of eligible newsroom employees for periods beginning, on or after Jan. 1, 2019.

Another new measure from the federal government, which came into effect Jan. 1, 2020, allows not-for-profit news organizations to apply for charitable status, meaning they can receive donations and issue tax receipts to donors.

The third credit encourages Canadians to pay for online news through a 15 per cent non-refundable personal income tax credit for digital news subscription costs paid by an individual to a QCJO, which applies to qualifying amounts paid after 2019 and before 2025.

These measures sought to shore up the newspaper industry sector, which, according to a report from Statista, has seen its ad revenue decline by more than half over the past 15 years, standing at $3.43 billion in 2003 and dropping to $1.63 billion by 2018.

In March, as the pandemic saw more ad revenue dry the up, Ottawa made further promises to invest money from the government’s $33-million national pandemic awareness campaign in Canadian media outlets.

Guilbeault’s long-standing pledge to have web giants pay will be the newest measure from Ottawa seeking to help keep some Canadian media outlets afloat.

The minister has so far declined to share information on the specifics, telling iPolitics the department hasn’t figured out the mechanics. He’s been transparent about studying models in Australia and France, saying he’s been “inspired” by what action these countries are taking around neighbouring rights, which generally refers to the rights of creators to receive payment for redistribution of their work.

In France, copyright changes on neighbouring rights have sought to have online newspaper publishers be remunerated for publishing extracts of their articles on Google News. 

Australia, meanwhile, is in the midst of implementing a tax policy putting in place a regulatory framework so there can be a bargaining agreement between media and companies like Facebook and Google.

Due to the type of regime being developed, Guilbeault urged that the proposed framework should not be considered a big tech tax. He said the government needs to intervene and create a regulatory framework, after which the government only needs to get involved if one of the web giants doesn’t abide by the ruling, in which case Ottawa would step in and impose fines. 

The policy would allow royalties to be collected and distributed directly to news media organizations, according to tariffs established by the federal Copyright Board. The government would not be collecting any of the money.

“Some people think every time the government acts, it’s a tax,” he said. “What I’m working on has nothing to do with tax.” 

READ MORE: E-commerce law expert warns ‘link tax’ could hurt, not help publishers

Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, observed that the processes in Australia and France have led to a host of problems. In Australia, for example, Facebook has said they would be willing to walk away from news sharing altogether rather than pay fees for link sharing. 

Geist said the Australian approach to mandate a licensing system imposed by the government is grounded in competition law — which seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies — rather than the copyright approach taken by France, the same direction Guilbeault signalled he’s headed in. 

France has also ran into its fair share of problems with Google choosing to instead display only headlines and URL links, rather than being caught under the new regulations and paying for news snippets. The French competition regulator responded by ordering Google to negotiate a linking licence.

“When the minister starts making promises about copyright reform…there’s a sense he’s writing cheques that he may not be able to cash,” Geist said. 

A comprehensive study of the Copyright Act was finished in June of last year by the House Industry Committee, with the body making 36 recommendations – none of which advised implementing the so-called “link tax.”

READ MORE: Telecommunications review includes ‘extreme’ recommendations, warns expert

As well, Geist, who is also a Canada Research Chair in internet and e-commerce law, previously told iPolitics it is more likely that Google and Facebook will replace an article written by a Canadian news company with an article written by a publisher in another country without a fee, if the rule is legislated. 

He said the news content isn’t financially material, pointing to an argument Facebook made in Australia when they were pressured to pay for link sharing. The social media giant argued that between posts on personal photos and information, linking to a news article didn’t amount to much from a financial perspective. Facebook said it doesn’t earn much from the links, but sent over two billion clicks to Australian publishers in the first five months of 2020 — at a benefit of hundreds of millions of dollars to media companies. 

In a statement just last month, Google made a similar argument, saying it sends Canadians to news sites millions of times a day for free — “providing news companies the opportunity to make money and grow their business and audience by showing people the publisher’s own ads, directing readers to other articles and to offers that convert people into new paying subscribers.”

“Globally, on average, we send users to news sites 24 billion times a month,” Google said. 

For media publishers who think they aren’t benefiting, Geist said, the option to opt out of link sharing already exists. He said they can choose not to have their content indexed on a search program, and Google will stop linking to it.

Google also announced an initial $1 billion investment to partner with news publishers to create Google News Showcase, “a different kind of online news experience.” The product, Google said, will give readers more insight on the stories that matter and help publishers develop deeper relationships with their audiences.

And while the content might not amount to much of a financial margin for social media giants, news organizations can benefit from the number of times their links are shared and their articles are opened. The more website traffic a publication has, the more they can charge for advertising on their sites. They also stand to benefit from receiving more subscribers through their articles being shared. 

READ MORE: Telecommunications review calls for big changes to CRTC, CBC

But Guilbeault said the criticism of the proposed regulatory framework “makes no sense,” adding that the government is not punishing “anybody for anything.” He said there’s lot of free market people who think the government shouldn’t intervene.

“That’s not our approach,” he said. “But to say that because we are intervening, we’re penalizing these companies, which are, by the way, some of the most lucrative and powerful companies in the world, frankly that’s a bit of a stretch for me.” 

Conservative industry critic James Cumming said corporations should pay taxes when operating in Canada, and that he’s looking forward to seeing the government’s plan and whether it’s good public policy. He pointed to Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole’s platform proposal which would eliminate GST on Canadian digital programs to promote more online cultural content.

“We think it’s a good step forward to try and create that environment where there’s more Canadian content,” he said.

But the minister’s efforts, Cumming said, are long overdue, like “every file the Liberal government has failed to move along.” The sector changes rapidly, he said, and the government must adapt. 

“They keep kicking the ball down the hall,” he said. 

When the minister appeared before the parliamentary committee on Canadian Heritage in February to answer questions about his mandate letter, he appeared confident that mechanisms to support the creation of Canadians content could be employed within the year, as would sales taxes for Facebook.

Now, Guilbeault said there’s more work to do on neighbouring rights, saying the legislation will be ready to be tabled in the House of Commons in the “coming months. 

Both Cumming and Geist also said they were unsure how the plan to create a regulatory framework for web giants has fallen under the Canadian Heritage portfolio, rather than being studied under the finance or industry departments. 

According to its mandate, the Department of Canadian Heritage and its portfolio organizations exist to play a vital role in the cultural, civic and economic life of Canadians. 

“Our policies and programs promote an environment where Canadians can experience dynamic cultural expressions, celebrate our history and heritage and build strong communities,” it says. “The Department invests in the future by supporting the arts, our official and indigenous languages and our athletes and the sport system.”

Guilbeault says there’s no question that this task falls under his mandate, as a copyright issue.

“There’s nothing unusual about my ministry and myself being responsible for those issues,” he said.

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Social media lawsuit launched by Ontario school boards

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Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against multiple social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.

The school boards, including three in the Greater Toronto Area, have launched lawsuits seeking $4.5 billion in damages against Snapchat, TikTok, and Meta, the owner of both Facebook and Instagram, for creating products that they allege negligently interfere with student learning and have caused “widespread disruption to the education system.”

But at an unrelated news conference in Ottawa on Friday, Ford said that he “disagrees” with the legal action and worries it could take the focus away from “the core values of education.”

“Let’s focus on math, reading and writing. That is what we need to do, put all the resources into the kids,” he said. “What are they spending lawyers fees to go after these massive companies that have endless cash to fight this? Let’s focus on the kids, not this other nonsense that they are looking to fight in court.”

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Four separate but similar statements of claim were filed in Ontario’s Superior Court of JusticSocial media lawsuit launched by Ontario school boards pervasive problems such as distraction, social withdrawal, cyberbullying, a rapid escalation of aggression, and mental health challenges,” Colleen Russell-Rawlins, the director of education with the Toronto District School Board, said in a news release issued Thursday.

“It is imperative that we take steps to ensure the well-being of our youth. We are calling for measures to be implemented to mitigate these harms and prioritize the mental health and academic success of our future generation.”

The school boards are represented by Toronto-based law firm Neinstein LLP and the news release states that school boards “will not be responsible for any costs related to the lawsuit unless a successful outcome is reached.”

These lawsuits come as hundreds of school districts in the United States file similar suits.

“A strong education system is the foundation of our society and our community. Social media products and the changes in behaviour, judgement and attention that they cause pose a threat to that system and to the student population our schools serve,” Duncan Embury, the head of litigation at Neinstein LLP, said in the new release.

“We are proud to support our schools and students in this litigation with the goal of holding social media giants accountable and creating meaningful change.”

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Ontario school boards sue social media giants for $4.5B

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Four major Ontario school boards are taking some of the largest social media companies to court over their products, alleging the way they’re designed has negatively rewired the way children think, behave and learn and disrupted the way schools operate.

The public district school boards of Toronto, Peel and Ottawa-Carleton, along with Toronto’s Catholic counterpart, are looking for about $4.5 billion in total damages from Meta Platforms Inc., Snap Inc. and ByteDance Ltd., which operate the platforms Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok respectively, according to separate but similar statements of claim filed Wednesday.

“These social media companies … have knowingly created a product that is addictive and marketed to kids,” said Rachel Chernos Lin, the chair of the Toronto District School Board, on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning on Thursday.

“We need them to be held accountable and we need them to create safer products.”

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Social media giants ‘knowingly’ harming children, TDSB chair says in wake of lawsuit

3 hours ago

Duration 5:53

Four of Ontario’s largest school boards, including the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), have launched lawsuits against social media giants behind Meta, Snapchat and TikTok for allegedly causing harm to students. Metro Morning host David Common spoke with TDSB chair Rachel Chernos Lin about the action.

The allegations have yet to be proven in court, and there is no set date for when they will be heard. CBC Toronto has reached out to the companies named for comment.

The school boards, speaking under a new coalition called Schools for Social Media Change, allege students are experiencing an “attention, learning, and mental health crisis” because of “prolific and compulsive use of social media products,” in a news release.

They allege the platforms facilitate and promote cyberbullying, harassment, hate speech and misinformation, and have a part in escalating physical violence and conflicts in schools, according to the statements of claim.

They also argue these apps are “purposefully designed” to deliver harmful content to students dealing with topics such as suicidal ideation, drugs, self-harm, alcohol, eating disorders, hate speech and sex — particularly content encouraging “non-consensual” sexual activity.

Trying to respond to those problems has caused “massive strains” on the boards’ funds, including in additional mental health programming and staff, IT costs and administrative resources, the release says. The boards call on the social media giants to “remediate” the costs to the larger education system and redesign their products to keep students safe.

Lawsuit may be first of its kind in Canada

Hundreds of school boards in the United States, along with some states, have launched similar lawsuits against social media companies.

Last fall, over 30 states accused Meta Platforms Inc. of harming young people’s mental health and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly designing features on Instagram and Facebook that cause children to be addicted to its platforms.

In an email, a spokesperson for Snap said Snapchat was “intentionally designed to be different from traditional social media.”

“Snapchat opens directly to a camera — rather than a feed of content — and has no traditional public likes or comments. While we will always have more work to do, we feel good about the role Snapchat plays in helping close friends feel connected, happy and prepared as they face the many challenges of adolescence.”

What social media scrolling is doing to kids’ brains

5 months ago

Duration 7:52

With most children and teenagers spending hours a day on a smartphone, CBC’s Christine Birak breaks down what research shows about how using social media is changing kids’ behaviour, if it’s rewiring their brains and what can be done about it.

Neinstein LLP, a Toronto-based firm, is representing the school boards. The boards will not be responsible for any costs related to the suit unless a successful outcome is reached, the release says.

Duncan Embury, a partner and head of litigation at Neinstein, told CBC News the named companies are “mainly responsible” for the social media products that kids use, and share “common” designs or algorithms that lead to “problematic use.”

To his knowledge, this is the first case of its kind in Canada.

“Based on what we’re seeing and what we’re hearing from our educators, I think this is a problem that is pervasive across our system and I wouldn’t be surprised if there [were] more boards that took this step,” said Embury.

Ford ‘disagrees’ with move

At an unrelated news conference on Thursday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he “disagrees” with the schools boards’ lawsuits.

“What are they spending on lawyer fees to go after these massive companies that have endless cash to fight this? Let’s focus on the kids, not about this other nonsense that they’re looking to fight in court,” he said.

WATCH | Ford disagrees with school board lawsuits against social media companies:

Ford disagrees with school board lawsuits against social media companies

2 hours ago

Duration 0:41

Ontario Premier Doug Ford responded to news Thursday that four major school boards in the province are suing some of the largest social media companies over alleged harm to young people, saying he disagrees with the boards’ action. “Let’s focus on the kids, not about this other nonsense,” he told reporters.

CBC News spoke to parents with children who attend schools in the Toronto District School Board. While they all agree social media apps are a problem, they differ in what approach they think should be used to regulate them.

“Just take the phones away,” said Gillian Henderson.

“I don’t think we need to sue anybody, that seems like a long, expensive process. Just take away their phones in class and give them back to them when they need them.”

The board has recently moved to develop a policy to limit cellphone use in classrooms, which includes potential phone bans and social media restrictions. It previously said staff had problems enforcing policies stating students should only use phones for educational purposes only.

Two separate pictures of a woman and a man shown together.
Gillian Henderson and Shyon Baumann have children who attend schools in the Toronto District School Board. Henderson thinks schools should take students’ phones away in class, while Baumann says it may be helpful to force tech giants to decrease harm from their apps through the court system. (Paul Smith/CBC)

Shyon Baumann said school boards could use some help in reducing screen time.

“If the school boards can do what they can trying to police it, that would be great. But it would be also great if the app creators did what they could to make the harms decrease,” he said.

“If they’re not going to make voluntary changes, then maybe doing it through the courts is the most effective way.”

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Five of the best books about social media – The Guardian

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From Covid conspiracy theories to recent speculations about Catherine, Princess of Wales, social media is at the heart of how we share information, and misinformation, with one another in the 21st century. For those who want to have a better understanding of social media and how it affects us, here are a selection of titles that explore how we consume, share, and manipulate information on social media platforms.


So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson

Journalist and author Jon Ronson argues we live in “a great renaissance of public shaming”, and this book tracks down some of the many victims of online shaming to understand what happened to them as a result. In the process, we learn about Ronson’s own values, question our own, and figure out how we’ve reached a time where an online feed can become a social courtroom.


Doppelganger by Naomi Klein

After getting repeatedly mistaken for feminist-turned-conspiracy-theorist Naomi Wolf online, and then in real life, Naomi Klein penned Doppelganger as an earnest and introspective look at herself. The book explores how conspiracy theories and lies spread quickly through the internet, and how the social and political climate of the physical world manipulates the way we experience online platforms. While not exclusively about social media, the story behind Doppelganger is a perfect case of the ways our digital lives and identities intersect with what we experience in reality – and how dangerous the repercussions of spreading online lies can be.

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Irresistible by Adam Alter

Have you ever wondered why you can’t stop scrolling on your TikTok “for you” page, or obsessing over how many likes you got on a recent Facebook post? You’re not alone, and Adam Alter’s book explores why we get sucked into the digital world. He answers what makes an online addiction, whether it be to emails, Instagram, or Netflix, different to other forms of addiction – and warns us of the dangers this could cause long-term. As well as introspection, he gives practical solutions to how digital addiction can be controlled for good.


Extremely Online by Taylor Lorenz

Journalist Taylor Lorenz calls this book “a social history of social media”; she uses real-life case studies of mothers, teenagers, politicians and influencers to assess how social media touches all demographics. Extremely Online explores topics from the digital economy and influencer culture, to what makes moments go viral on Twitter and how this is all influencing the way we socialise and understand the world. At its core, this book explores the idea of what it means to connect – and how social media as an innovation has warped communication.


TikTok Boom by Chris Stokel-Walker

TikTok is arguably one of the most significant advancements in social media in the past two decades. This book by journalist and writer Chris Stokel-Walker explores how the app is changing the way users interact with content. It moves away from the social-commentary style of the other books mentioned here, instead using business and technology analysis as a means to describe wider socio-political repercussions of the app. Stokel-Walker bridges the gap between the digital and the physical, showing the feedback loop that exists between what happens online on platforms such as TikTok and the real world.

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