"The intimidation tactics of Meta and Google will not work," declares the Prime Minister of Canada
Trudeau continues to defend the scandalous "Online News Act".
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has no intention of compromising with Meta and Google on the issue of Bill C-18, also known as the Online News Act. At a press conference on Wednesday, Trudeau said that Meta and Google's "scare tactics" would not work for his government. The Prime Minister added that the government is making sure that these companies do not weaken Canada's democracy by threatening the country's media industry.
Last week, Meta announced that it would test blocking access to some news for a small percentage of Canadian Instagram and Facebook users. The corporation said it would permanently block access to news content in Canada if the country's parliament passes Bill C-18.
Previously, Google had already conducted a similar test, restricting access to its search engine news to nearly 4% of Canadians. The company says it is seeking a compromise with the Canadian government.
Trudeau said at a press conference: "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’re resorting to bullying tactics to try and get their way. It’s not going to work. We will continue to make sure that these incredibly profitable corporations contribute to strengthening our democracy, not weakening it.”
Major publishers told a Senate committee examining the bill that they could lose millions if Meta and Google blocked their content.
C-18 has already passed the House of Commons, and the Senate could approve it as early as this month. If passed, C-18 would require Google and Meta to enter into an agreement with Canadian news outlets and pay them for the content appearing on their sites, in case the corporations make money from it.
Both companies, on the other hand, say that news does not bring them much profit. Only 3% of Facebook feed posts and less than 2% of Google search queries are related to news, according to their own statements. That makes it easier for them to simply stop posting Canadian news on their platforms than to face the challenges of the Online News Act.
