The Canadian Media and the Green Shoots

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The government is looking, seeing that there's all this cash in these foreign tech giants. And we also see, on the other hand, that the journalism industry in Canada, but in many other parts of the world, is really struggling right now. So they're saying, OK, how are we going to address this? And they also see the example of the Australians who did it back in 2021 and it's worked out decently well down there. They also see what came out of Australia and want to move forward with that.

Paris Marx is joined by David Moscrop to discuss Canada’s plan to make Google and Meta pay news publishers, and what might happened now that they’re threatening to pull Canadian news from their platforms.

David Moscrop is a freelance writer and the author of Too Dumb for Democracy?: Why We Make Bad Political Decisions and How We Can Make Better Ones. Follow David on Twitter at @David_Moscrop.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

David Moscrop wrote about the larger context of the Online News Bill in his Substack newsletter.
Paris also wrote about Google and Meta threatening to pull news in Canada and why Canada should take a hard line with them.
Sandy Garossino wrote about how much money Google and Meta extract from Canada.
Media conglomerates Postmedia and Nordstar are in talks to merge.
California is also looking at a similar process to force Google and Meta to pay media in that state.
On Wednesday, the Canadian government pulled advertising from Facebook and Instagram, but said Google was still talking to find a way forward. The government said it won’t back down, and two opposition parties — the New Democratic Party and Bloc Quebecois — voiced their support.

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