Business
Your latest questions about Bill C-18 and the blocking of Canadian news answered
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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.
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.
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The United Auto Workers union is expanding its strike against U.S. automakers to two new plants, as 7,000 workers at a Ford plant in Chicago and a General Motors assembly factory near Lansing, Mich., will walk off the job at midday on Friday.
Union president Shawn Fain told workers on a video appearance Friday that negotiations haven’t broken down but Ford and GM have refused to make meaningful progress.
“Despite our willingness to bargain, Ford and GM have refused to make meaningful progress,” Fain said. “That’s why at noon eastern we will expand our strike to these two companies.”
“Not a single wheel will turn without us,” Fain said, adding that the 7,000 soon-to-be picketers are the “next wave of reinforcements.”
Stellantis, the third major automaker targeted by the union, and the maker of brands like Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge, was spared further action, as Fain said the company’s management has made significant concessions on things like a cost-of-living allowance and a freeze on outsourcing.
The Ford plant in Chicago makes the Explorer and Police Interceptor, as well as the Lincoln Aviator SUV.
The GM plant in Michigan’s Delta Township near Lansing manufactures large crossover SUVs such as the Chevrolet Traverse.
The two new plants join 41 other factories and distribution centres already seeing job action.
So far, the impact on Canada’s auto industry has been muted, as none of the idled factories are major users of Canadian-made components.
U.S. President Joe Biden visited the United Auto Workers picket line in Detroit on Tuesday, saying the workers deserve a significant raise after sacrifices made during the 2008 financial crisis. Auto companies are doing ‘incredibly well,’ Biden said, ‘and you should be doing incredibly well, too.’
Edward Moya, a strategist with foreign exchange firm Oanda, says that despite the expanded job action, the strike seems to be nearing an “endgame” as the two sides are clearly making slow but steady progress.
“Yesterday, the UAW said they are targeting a 30 per cent pay raise, which is down from the 46 per cent they were asking for in early September,” he said. “Automakers have raised their offer to 20 per cent but were not offering much on retirement benefits. The longer this drags, the more both sides lose, so a deal should be reached in the next week or two.”
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