CRTC confirmed as intended regulator
By Amanda OYE
OTTAWA – Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez (above) today introduced Bill C-18, the Online News Act, which would put in place a framework to level the playing field in the Canadian digital news marketplace and ensure news media and journalists are fairly compensated for their work.
“Bill C-18 would require tech giants to make fair commercial deals with outlets for the news and information that is shared on their platforms,” a government press release announcing the bill explains.
“The deals would need to provide fair compensation, respect journalistic independence and invest in a diversity of Canadian news outlets, including independent local businesses, among other criteria.”
To help facilitate this, the bill allows eligible media outlets to bargain collectively. This gives “smaller news outlets in particular more bargaining power,” Rodriguez said during a press conference today.
The bill, which is based on Australia’s news media bargaining code, is intended to encourage platforms and news outlets to come to agreements on their own.
“If platforms and news outlets are unable to reach a voluntary agreement, then and only then, would the act mandate negotiations with final offer arbitration as a last resort,” Rodriguez explained.
Companies that would be subject to the act include those which allow news to be accessed and shared on their platforms and have a “significant bargaining imbalance” with organizations providing news in Canada as determined by things such as size of the operator.
The new legislation would not apply to platforms such as WhatsApp, which is primarily a messaging service intended to enable individuals to communicate with one another and would not apply to platforms already regulated under the Broadcasting Act or the Telecommunications Act.
Platforms that do qualify will be able to request an exemption.
To qualify for an exemption the platform’s operator would need to have entered into agreements with eligible news organizations which, among other things, provide fair compensation and “do not allow corporate influence to undermine the freedom of expression and journalistic independence enjoyed by news outlets,” according to the bill.
Notably, both Facebook and Google already have agreements with Canadian news organizations in place.
Meta, Facebook’s owner, has committed $18 million over seven years to several programs and partnerships in the country. In addition, Meta has signed commercial deals with 18 Canadian news publishers as part of its News Innovation Test, which sees it pay participating news providers to be able to link to additional news stories that have not already been posted on Facebook.
Google has also come to agreements with Canadian news organizations – it has deals with 11 Canadian publishers who have partnered with it for Google News Showcase.
These deals Facebook and Google have worked out are all with print and online news publishers. If Bill C-18 passes platforms will have to negotiate with broadcasters as well, as eligible news businesses would include those designated as a Qualified Canadian journalism organization under the Income Tax Act, and those that meet a set of criteria including operating in Canada and regularly employing two or more journalists in the country.
Bill C-18 does specify both private and public broadcasters would be eligible to benefit from the legislation.
Kim Trynacity, the Canadian Media Guild’s CBC branch president said in a press release it is important the public broadcaster be included in the new legislation.
“We’ve seen successive cuts to CBC/Radio-Canada staff and programming over the past decades, even as recent events, at home and abroad, have reminded us how vital the public broadcaster is in providing quality news services to Canadians regardless of where they live, or which official language they use,” she said. “This is even more necessary during a global pandemic, a siege in Ottawa or an invasion in Europe.”
This aspect of the bill is sure to be controversial given the CBC/Radio-Canada’s public funding.
There is also sure to be some push back over the CRTC being confirmed in the bill as the regulator that would be in charge of the new legislation even though there has been concern expressed over its ability to keep up with its current responsibilities.
The CRTC was chosen because it has experience with this type of negotiation, Rodriguez said during today’s press conference. Rodriguez also noted the Commission’s participation “will be very limited” because an arbitrator will be appointed.
For those keeping track, this is the second bill to be introduced this year which would give the CRTC an expanded role. (The other one, of course, is Bill C-11.)
When asked today during the press conference about whether the CRTC has the resources to take on this new role, Rodriguez gave largely the same response he did when asked the same question about C-11: “We will provide it with the financial resources they require based on what they tell us they need,” he said.
Among the new responsibilities the CRTC will have if the bill is passed is deciding which platforms are exempt from regulation under the act and which news organizations are eligible to benefit from it.
At this point, Facebook and Google seem to be the platforms the bill most clearly targets (as seems to be the case in Australia as well.) Both companies are in the process of reviewing it.
“We are currently reviewing the proposed legislation in detail and look forward to engaging with stakeholders once we more fully understand what the bill entails,” said Rachel Curran, public policy manager, Meta, in a statement emailed to Cartt.ca.
Lauren Skelly, Google Canada spokesperson, indicated they are also reviewing the legislation in an emailed statement to Cartt.ca. “We fully support ensuring Canadians have access to authoritative news and we look forward to working with the government to strengthen the news industry in Canada,” she said.
Screenshot of Pablo Rodriguez taken from a press conference last week.
