The theme is: to adopt a law that protect the media from the digital giants. Australia did it in 2021. It does it today Canada with a new law requiring digital giants to pay the media for sharing their content. The potential target for news companies is to receive up to 230 million Canadian dollars (158 million euros). The issue has also been raised in Europe for a couple of years, with publishers' associations and Microsoft calling for the introduction of a mechanism to force Big Tech to pay for the content of news shared on their platforms.
Google and Meta on the counterattack in Canada
Now of course Google and Meta they try to defend themselves: the 2021 agreement with is still burning Australia, under which Google had to pay more than 30 million Australian dollars per year, for the use of Nine Entertainment Co.'s news content.
Google could therefore block news sites on its search engine from December, in response to the new Canadian law, while Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, had already banned its users from seeing or sharing links to news articles in Canada even before the entry into force of this law, as reported by Rainews.
Google for its part urged the Canadian government to make the “necessary” legislative changes to this law which is due to come into force in two months, citing an “unenforceable” media settlement process. Known as C-18, this law it should allow digital giants to strike fair commercial deals with media outlets on content broadcast on their platforms or face federal arbitration.
“The law subjects Google to potentially unlimited financial liability simply for facilitating access to news sites and funneling valuable traffic to publishers,” he said Google Canada in a 12-page document published in these hours, says Rainews. Without an agreement on amendments before the law takes effect in December, Google could decide to block access to news sites in Canada, the group suggested.
“Consequently, the issue of timing remains, which could put Google in the position of having to suspend connections to news content during the process of obtaining an exemption,” the document notes. Earlier in the day, Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said she was "optimistic" about being able to convince Google of the benefits of this law, which faces "great resistance" from the digital giants. “Google has participated and collaborated throughout the process as Facebook blocks news in Canada even though the law is not yet in force,” he told news outlets gathered in Toronto.
At stake for Canada there are 158 million euros, for Australia it was 19 million
The new Canadian law targets Google and Meta for now and is expected to allow news companies to receive up to $230 million Canadian (158 million euro), according to Ottawa. The federal government therefore intends to slow the erosion of print in Canada to the benefit of the digital giants, to which advertising revenues have migrated in recent years.
In AustraliaAs early as 2021 (with a five-year contract, which expires in 2026), Google agreed to pay over 30 million Australian dollars (19 million euros) per year for the use of Nine Entertainment Co's news content. one of Australia's largest media groups, comprising Channel TV 9 and the Sydney Morning Herald, Melbourne's The Age and Australian Financial Review newspapers. The agreement ensures support for the company's publications. It also allows Google to cope with the government's introduction of the code of conduct by limiting the damage. Code that requires Facebook and Google to agree compensation with Australian publishers for sharing their content. It aligns with Australia and Canada, New Zealand.
In Europe, publisher associations and Microsoft are already moving
In Europe, who have been raising the issue for a couple of years now, are the publishers' associations e ecosystem who asked to introduce a mechanism to force Big Tech to pay for news content shared on their platforms.
The European publishers' associations (Emma, Enpa, Epc, Nme) and the IT company founded by Bill Gates have agreed to work together on a solution to secure allthe publishing industry fair remuneration for the news content that web giants use on their platforms, increasing their traffic and advertising revenue. According to the EU editors the copyright law, that forces Google and other online platforms to sign licensing agreements with musicians, authors and news publishers to use their work is insufficient.
