So the Canadian government passed a law in June that would require Meta and Google to pay news organizations for news content that is featured on their websites. Essentially acting as a kind of "link tax" for tech companies, justified by the use of content from these news organizations that appears on Facebook, Instagram, and Google (thumbnails, bylines, etc). In response Meta has blocked all Canadian news from appearing on their websites along with non-news websites from Canada like The Beaverton and Walking Eagle News (The Canadian and Indigenous versions of the Onion). You can read more here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_News_Act
https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bill/44-1/c-18
So I can see potential pros and cons of this legislation.
Pros:
I hate Google and Meta and this will make them lose money which I'm always a fan of.
This could help news organizations that have more leftist or more Indigenous focused reporting fund their work, considering those organizations don't have much funding to begin with in Canada.
The current blocking of news on Meta could help move people away from getting their news on there from sites like The Rebel
It will help ensure the survival of Canadian based news and help stave off even more American corporate and cultural hegemony over the country
Cons:
The majority of the money from this program will go towards the Postmedia owned news networks and further entrench their neoliberal worldview
What do you think about the bill?
That's absolutely the most compelling argument against it. I was a fence sitter because I'm living out of the country right now and hadn't read it in full detail as there's not much I can do about it right now. My understanding was that it was aimed at the big tech companies, but it looks like a much wider net was cast. I just bothered to educate myself, and I'm on your side now.
I'm still undecided. I am kinda loving watching the meltdown on Facebook about it though (I don't actively use it, but I check it about once per week).
