With Bill C-18 on the verge of becoming law, Canadians could soon see news removed from their Facebook pages and Google searches
Published June 22, 2023 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 3 minute read
OTTAWA—With Bill C-18 on the verge of becoming law, there’s a showdown looming between the Liberal government and Big Tech. Canadians could soon see news content removed from their Facebook pages and Google searches if the companies follow through on what the Liberal government has so far dismissed as just threats.
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Facebook parent company Meta has said it will block news content on Facebook and Instagram if the Online News Bill passes in its current form, which is designed to make the social media giants pay news organizations for stories that appear on their platforms. Google has said it’s considering pulling news from its products, including Google Search, in response to the law.
Before it rose for summer break on Wednesday evening, the House of Commons sent the bill back to the Senate. The Senate, which is still sitting, could vote on it, and the bill could get royal assent and become law as early as this week.
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have both expressed skepticism about Meta and Google’s statements. After Meta began running tests blocking news for some Canadians earlier this month, Rodriguez accused the company of “trying to intimidate Canadians with these reckless moves. It won’t work.” Google ran similar tests earlier this year.
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Trudeau had a similar message, saying “the fact that these internet giants would rather cut off Canadians’ access to local news than pay their fair share is a real problem, and now they are resorting to bullying tactics to try and get their way. It’s not going to work.”
The way the bill is structured, pulling news from their platforms would exempt Google and Facebook from the legislation. Bill C-18 doesn’t specifically name Google and Meta, but it does apply to companies that “make news content available” and have a “significant bargaining power imbalance” with news businesses. If Google and Meta stopped making news content available, the bill would no longer apply to them — meaning they would be under no obligation to share revenues.
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That possibility was cited by Bell Media as a consideration when it laid off 1,300 people, including cuts to its news operations, last week. Bell’s chief legal and regulatory officer Robert Malcolmson told The Canadian Press the bill could come to nothing if Google and Facebook block news on their platforms, and that the company couldn’t wait for a resolution.
Google has also warned it could cut or end existing deals with Canadian news outlets in response to the bill. Through its Google News Showcase program, the company currently has deals with news publishers that cover 150 outlets. That includes Postmedia, publisher of the National Post, which also supports the legislation. Google pays news outlets to license content for the program, although the financial terms of the deals with outlets have not been disclosed.
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Google said Thursday it is hoping to avoid pulling news. Spokesperson Shay Purdy said Thursday the company is “doing everything we can to avoid an outcome that no-one wants.”
Purdy said Google has been proposing changes to the bill to the Liberal government but said that “none of our concerns have been addressed. Bill C-18 is about to become law and remains unworkable. We are continuing to urgently seek to work with the government on a path forward.”
If the companies remove news from their platforms, it’s unclear what recourse the Liberal government would have. When he was asked about that possibility at a Senate committee earlier this month, Rodriguez said the government had “options,” such as pulling government advertising from the platforms, launching new programs or increasing funding of other programs.
He also said warned there would be a “reputational impact” on the platforms if they pulled news content.
Marla Boltman, executive director of advocacy group Friends, said in an emailed statement the group “wholeheartedly applaud(s) Parliament for getting this challenging bill across the finish line while staring down the barrel of Google and Facebook’s threats to block news in Canada. Our hope is that these foreign tech giants will now abandon their intimidation tactics and show the Canadian democratic process the respect it deserves.”
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