If news can’t be searched for on Google or shared on Facebook, is it even really online? Bill C-18, the Online News Act, is currently before the senate. Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez says that this Bill will help save small newsrooms and local journalism outlets by giving them the power to negotiate with tech giants, deals for payment of news content that is shared on their platforms.
But Meta and Google’s response has been simple: they just won’t allow Canadian news on their platforms. In March, Google ran a test where one million Canadians could no longer see results for Canadian news searches. At the Canada Strong & Free conference in Ottawa last week, Meta said they would also disallow sharing of anything that looks like news on their sites, like Facebook and Instagram.
Last year, Canadaland and a group of other independent news publishers formed a consortium to lobby the government on this Bill. Today, Jesse sits down again with Senator Paula Simons, as Publisher of Canadaland, to discuss the Bill and not just his own issues with it, but hers too.
Host: Jesse Brown
Credits: Tristan Capacchione (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor)
Featured guests: Paula Simons
Further reading:
- Canada’s Online News Act must be transparent, fair, and include news innovators — Canadaland, Publisher’s Note
- Bill C-18 - Parliament
Sponsors: Freshbooks, Public Service Alliance of Canada, Squarespace
If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.
You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.