Will Bill C-18 backfire on the Canadian news industry?

Author

The Pulse by DB8
June 27, 2023

A few weeks ago, we covered the passing of controversial Bill C-11, and just when we thought the drama had finally died down a bit… the Canadian government went ahead and effectively said “hold my beer”, passing Bill C-18. Today’s Pulse is all about the battle between the Canadian government and tech giant, Meta.

The Pulse Results (45 Votes) 📈

Side A 68.89% - Bill C-18 is going to backfire on the Canadian government & news industry, they need Meta

Side B 31.11% - Meta has been profiting for way too long, it’s time to bring some of that $ back into Canada

Poll closed: June 28, 2023

Published on: June 22, 2023
Published by: CBC News

The main goal of Bill C-18 is to address the imbalance between traditional news outlets and social media platforms, by requiring social media companies like Meta (the parent company of Facebook & Instagram) and Google to pay to share news content from Canadian publishers. The government argues that companies like Meta have been profiting massively off of content that doesn’t belong to them, and that it’s time to start compensating publishers for their work.

Since there is no preset formula or precedent for this in Canada, Bill C-18 will require tech giants to negotiate with each publisher in order to come to an agreement on exactly what compensation will look like.

Bill C-18 was pitched as a way to support an industry that has seen a steady decline since the emergence of the internet. According to the government, revenue for broadcast television, radio, newspapers and magazines fell by nearly $6 billion between 2008 and 2020, more than 470 media outlets in Canada have closed, and at least one-third of journalism jobs have disappeared over that same time period.

In immediate response to the passing of the bill, Meta basically said “F around and find out” to the Canadian government, announcing that they would be pulling ALL news content from Facebook and Instagram in Canada.

Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in internet and e-commerce law, even chimed in claiming that the news industry needs social media more than the other way around. Bill C-18 claims to aim to help Canadian publishers, but making them effectively undiscoverable online could be the nail on the coffin for many news outlets if the government can’t come to an agreement with Meta.

And of course, just like when we covered Bill C-11… the actual intentions of Bill C-18 have Canadians puzzled and divided, with many questioning if this is another step towards full-blown content censorship, disguised as “a bill to help Canadians”.

Ouff. Let’s get into it.

The Debate Showdown

Side A: Bill C-18 is going to backfire on the Canadian government & news industry, they need Meta

  • If the government really cared, they could have gone with a different approach to supporting Canadian media, like creating a fund that's supported by tax revenues from tech companies like Meta and Google.

  • Smaller publications disproportionally rely on traffic from Facebook and Instagram in order to be discovered online. Whether Meta backs out of Canada entirely or decides to play ball and prioritize paying the larger outlets, Bill C-18 will literally be the nail in the coffin for the smaller players.

  • Bill C-11 controls online streaming and now they introduce Bill C-18, to control online news. This is yet another bill that claims to “want to help Canadian content”, when it is in fact doing the opposite. At what point are we going to call this what it is? A step towards full blown content censorship.

  • Meta makes most of its money from ads, it doesn’t make money when people share news articles. Asking Meta to start paying to share news in Canada is a loss that Meta won’t swallow for our sake, especially given that other countries aren’t asking the same of them.

Side B: Meta has been profiting for way too long, it’s time to bring some of that $ back into Canada

  • People are acting like news will be censored as a result of Bill C-18. It’s not like Canadians won’t have access to news, they will just need to go directly to the source instead of through social media.

  • The news business is facing an all out assault on revenue, talent, and jobs, all thanks to social media. Asking tech giants to pay a small fee is pennies in comparison to the revenue they bring in annually.

  • This is a proven concept. Bill C-18 is modelled around a similar Australian law that was introduced in 2021, that has since inked deals with 30 news outlets, bringing in more than 200 million Australian dollars for them. That’s a lot of extra $$$$.

  • If Meta wants to operate around the world, it needs to abide by the laws of each country it operates in. They aren’t above the law. They can’t just blackmail and bully an entire country into doing what they want.

Previous Debate

Esports: The next big thing or media hype?

Hate it or love it, there is no denying that there is some serious hype around Esports. Popular gamer “xQc” just inked a bigger contract ($100 million) than LeBron-freaking-James… and that’s a pretty big deal. Literally.

Previous Pulse Results (24 Votes) 📈

Side A 79.17% - This deal solidifies the fact that Esports is on its way to becoming the biggest sport in the world

Side B 20.83% - xQc’s deal is just media hype feeding into the Esports bubble

Poll closed: June 26, 2023

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