Google searches for allies in fight against news compensation bill

Alphabet Inc.’s Google was an island of defiance in a sea of praise for Bill C-18, the government’s legislation to force large platforms to support the news industry. The bill is currently before the House of Commons Committee on Canadian Heritage. Six organizations appeared before the panel Tuesday. “Google shares your goal of supporting a sustainable future for journalism and the news in Canada. This includes thoughtful approaches to regulation and continuing to provide contributions, financial and otherwise,” Colin McKay, the company’s head of public policy and government relations told MPs. “Our concerns with C-18 are serious. So is our commitment to working with the government and the news industry on solutions.” He maintained that the language in the legislation regarding undue preference needs to be changed. Without those amendments, unscrupulous content providers will rely on clickbait and misinformation, he alleged. It could also result in people being charged for the amount of links they use. Another witness disputed that. “Bill C-18 would not create a link tax nor would it incentivize clickbait. It would not break the internet, as it has not in Australia,” Kevin Desjardins, president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, remarked. Australia implemented similar legislation to C-18 earlier. Ben Scott, director of the international non-profit organization Reset, likewise dismissed threats of a link tax. He praised the legislation as a stellar performer on the global stage. “What you’ve got in C-18 is among the best bills I have seen of its type,” he said. “This legislation must not be about publishers; it must be about the public. Too much of this debate plays out as if government were simply refereeing a contest between big tech and big publishers. That’s wrong,” Scott stated. Any funds going back to publishers must be used for news, not share buybacks or other non-journalism efforts, he added. One organization that has already faced the threat of Google and Meta Inc.’s Facebook and Instagram is the Montreal newspaper Le Devoir. Editor Brian Myles said his firm had linked up with the platforms for a while. “Le Devoir has already signed contractual agreements with four of the largest digital platforms, long before the government expressed its intention to regulate these companies,” he explained in French. “We signed an agreement with the MSN portal in 2014 and with Apple News in 2020. For our own reasons we signed agreements with Meta in May 2021 and with Google in October 2021.” There is an imbalance between the content providers such as his newspaper and the big platforms. That is why the legislation is needed. The newspaper has been profitable for six of the past eight years, Myles told the MPs, and has seen its staff grow from 100 employees to 175. That may not be the case for smaller publications, however. “The passage of C-18 is important to the media landscape in Canada and can help shore up declining revenues of many newspapers, especially the larger ones,” Evan Jamison, president of the Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association asserted. “There is however significant concern amongst our membership regarding the level of support that will be delivered to smaller publishers.” He denied criticism that legacy publishers are dinosaurs, averse to modern technology. Newspapers have been among the early adopters of emerging technologies in the newsroom, the third-generation newsman said. He suggested a tax on electronic advertising could be implemented to help publishers. Also speaking in favour of the bill was Cal Millar, president of Channel Zero, the parent company of Hamilton TV station CHCH. Local news is key to local programming, he said. His news director Greg O’Brien said the station’s news programs are accessible from various platforms. “In our view Bill C-18 meets the twin test of introducing a mechanism to provide material support for local news and doing it in such a way as to preserve editorial independence,” Millar told the committee. Bloc Québécois MP Martin Champoux, who as vice-chair presided over the hearings, took Google to task over a commissioned poll which tended to support its position against C-18. He asked about the methodology and the questions posed to get the answers. McKay said he did not have the data readily available but promised to forward a response to the committee. –Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca

Google searches for allies in fight against news compensation bill

News | October 18, 2022

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Google searches for allies in fight against news compensation bill

News | October 18, 2022

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