Government unveils final provisions of Online News Act

The federal government released the details of the implementation of the Online News Act Friday. It outlined how money from social media giants will be distributed to Canadian news organizations. Currently the rules apply only to Alphabet Inc.’s Google search engine, which recently signed a deal worth $100 million to carry news. Meta Platforms Inc. is refusing to cooperate with the plan and has pulled news from Facebook and Instagram. Other platforms are not large enough to be covered by the legislation but that could change in the coming years, officials with the Department of Canadian Heritage said in a briefing. Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge was not hopeful about reaching an agreement with Meta. “Well, it takes two to negotiate, and everybody has seen the approach that Meta and Facebook has taken, which is to not participate in the legislative process, not to participate in the regulatory process,” she said at a news conference. “So no, there — there is no negotiations currently with Facebook. However, the legislation will be enforced on December 19 and the CRTC will have to examine which platforms fall under the legislation, and I’m sure that CRTC will pay close — close attention to Facebook and Meta.” To be eligible to fall under the jurisdiction of the Act, a platform must have global revenues of $1 billion or more; operate in a search engine or social media market distributing news content in this country; and have 20 million or more unique visitors. Most of the money, 63 per cent, will be paid out to print and online publications. A further 30 per cent will be allotted to private and public broadcasters, with the carve out of CBC/Radio-Canada. It will be eligible for seven per cent of the funding. The broadcasting regime was a new detail released Friday. The Act will come into effect next Tuesday, Dec. 19. Platforms will have 180 calendar days to inform the CRTC that they are subject to the rules. They must issue an open call and groups of news businesses have 60 days to respond. Platforms will publish a list of the groups which did answer the open call. Exemptions will be considered based on multiple agreements or a single agreement. Under the multiple agreement plan, news businesses or groups engage in negotiations with a platform for compensation; that compensation must be comparable for businesses that are similar; and the deals must benefit a range of news groups, including independent outlets and Indigenous and language minority community groups. Single agreement plans must feature a group that responded to the open call; contribution will be set out in the regulations or determined by the CRTC; and payments will be distributed according to full-time equivalent (FTE) employees engaged in the production of news. Agreements must include a commitment to use most of the money to support local, regional and national news. Platforms must also pledge to support journalistic independence and not retaliate in response to unfavourable coverage or intervene in the editorial process. The Canadian Association of Broadcasters said it was disappointed in the limits imposed on its members. There needs to be urgent action taken to support broadcasting outlets, the group maintained. “All news organizations, regardless of their origin, now exist in an online, multimedia universe,” CAB president Kevin Desjardins was quoted as saying in a news release. “Canada’s private broadcasters need equitable supports to continue to provide important, fact-based reporting that is trusted by the communities they serve.” The CRTC will be launching consultations on the administration of the Act shortly. –Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca

Government unveils final provisions of Online News Act

News | December 15, 2023

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Government unveils final provisions of Online News Act

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