Boy, who do you root for in a face-off like this?
Meta Platforms—that’s Facebook and Instagram— ended access to news on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada earlier this month in opposition to a new law requiring internet companies to pay news publishers. The Online News Act was passed by the Canadian parliament to force platforms like Google parent Alphabet and Meta to negotiate commercial deals with Canadian news publishers (including the government) for news content. Part of a global trend to make tech firms pay for news, both Meta and Google told Canada in June they would block access to news on their platforms in the country if the law wasn’t changed.
“News outlets voluntarily share content on Facebook and Instagram to expand their audiences and help their bottom line,” Rachel Curran, Meta’s head of public policy in Canada, said in a public statement. But, she said, “people using our platforms don’t come to us for news.”
Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge responded,”This is irresponsible. They would rather block their users from accessing good quality and local news instead of paying their fair share to news organizations. We’re going to keep standing our ground. After all, if the Government can’t stand up for Canadians against tech giants, who will?”
And then the fires came. Canada is trying to evacuate many thousands of people from the areas threatened by wildfires, and a social media platform is a dandy way of getting crucial information out to the public fast and simply. What a shame that Canada’s insistence that Facebook and Google pay every time they pass on a news item resulted in an elimination of this resource.
“What Meta is doing currently is unacceptable,” railed Pablo Rodriguez, Canada’s transportation minister. “We’ve seen that, throughout this emergency, Canadians have not had access to the crucial information they need. So, I ask Meta to reverse its decision, allow Canadians to have access to news on their platforms.” St-Onge is, as the saying goes, singing a different tune:
Wait, I thought you were going to stand up against tech giants!
Meta and Google, as any good negotiator would insist, are saying: “You first. Eliminate the charges, and we’ll be happy to help save all those people from burning.”
Canada has to blink, and if it won’t, it will be first in the accountability line. But Meta and Google will be close behind.
Ethics Alarms 
Screw them both. Canada tried to shake the tech giants down. It figured they admired Justin Trudeau so much they would just fold. The tech companies said “no, go to hell,” and kept right on taking in the profits with little consequence. They are not news providers, they are private platforms who get to decide what they will allow to be passed on and what they won’t, just like they did with that laptop story (and reminded us of multiple times, just in case we might forget for a minute). Liberal or not, though, they are first and foremost for-profit businesses, and they’re not going to let Trudeau cut into their profits even a little, no matter how much they wish HE could be our president. I might feel differently if there were someone else in power in Canada, but I really don’t like the turn that nation, or rather the current administration there, has taken toward soft tyranny. I really REALLY don’t like that it’s looking like the current administration there is pretty close to achieving a permanent grip on power. The way Trudeau behaved during the trucker protests was downright scary, and the fact that some folks in this country wish the current administration could act like that is even scarier. I think it would be good for all involved if he finally found himself up against something he could not simply crush, and had to knuckle under.
Australia did something similar a while back, as I recall. Facebook had the same response for them, but I believe they ended up negotiating some sort of settlement. I had the same sentiments then as you do now, and I recall Australia being more than usually tyrannical during Covid. This has been brewing up for some time in Canada and it sounds like it is coming to a head now. With all due respect to H-T (which is a lot), I wish the Canadian government ill in its power grab.
New Zealand was more so, which the left loved, since its darling Jacinda was at the helm.
We have elections on the 14th of October so hopefully a new government.
I guess I don’t understand why there aren’t other places for Canadians to get their news if the lack of services on Facebook and Instagram are endangering lives?
I get that social media is convenient for spreading news quickly but FB and IG aren’t the only social media outlets out there. And not every Canadian is on social media, either.
Here in New Zealand the local Civil Defence and Emergency Management system send out a text during any emergency which causes the cell phone to buzz very loudly, so loud it is impossible to ignore. Most people usually have a cell phone nearby whereas even those with computers might not know about an emergency if not actually using Facebook or Google.
There are, but there aren’t a whole lot of foreign outlets covering the NWT fires, as an example.
Here in Massachusetts (and elsewhere, I assume) the government sends out text messages about all and sundry, should it be important. There is no need to log on to FB or anything else, for that matter, to get news. I also get a lot just as emailed news feeds, even if it’s behind a paywall, letting me decide if I need to read it, i.e., find it somewhere else that I already pay for. Besides, I never know what exactly FB, etc., are deciding NOT to publish….
That’s my thinking. Can’t the Canadian government just send out text messages with important updates?
So, if the ‘official’ news gets compensated for content appearing on Facebook and Instagram, why doesn’t everyone else?
I’m going to assume HT will give us the skinny on this kerfuffle, eh?
I hope so, he probably knows some things we Americans don’t.
And he’ll leaven it with a good amount of entertaining snark.
Boy did I! I wrote about this back in July:
https://humbletalent.substack.com/publish/posts/detail/133463986?referrer=%2Fpublish%2Fhome
Aw crap, that’s my dashboard link, I don’t think that’ll work for ya’ll.
https://humbletalent.substack.com/p/c-18-the-link-tax-bill
HT. I’m embarrassed to admit I read this great piece when you released it. No wonder I assumed you’d comment here. Sorry. It’s a great piece. I just didn’t have the patience to really give a shit about what the Canadian government was doing to the tech giants. No dog in that fight at all. Plus, I have yet to really understand how Facebook and google monetize their stuff. Cheers.
Any sane economist knows the term for government mandated pricing on a good or service.
It is called price controls.
If the price controls are below the free market rate, you don’t get the good or service. Period.
The other alternative of government influence, you get fraud and waste–recognizable as those roadside signs buying diabetic test strips, late night TV advertisements for free scooters if you have Medicare, and people from the other side of the world asking you weekly if you’ve ever served at Camp Lejeune in the 60’s.
I could write a new post, but I talked about this almost two moths ago!
https://humbletalent.substack.com/p/c-18-the-link-tax-bill
I guess to comment more specifically on the current situation:
-People are still able to go directly to Canadian news outlets. Nothing precludes us from going to cbc.ca and reading about the fires. It’s a testament to not only how lazy and stupid we are, but also how lazy and stupid we think the people around us are, that we are speaking about this in the grave, defeated tones we are. “If not for social media, how will we get the news?” as if social media wasn’t maybe 20 years old. Get some fucking perspective people.
-There is something particularly insipid in the Canadian government’s messaging here. It’s not just that Meta and Google have a moral duty to inform the public on their platforms, but they’re also expected to pay for informing the public on their platforms. This highlights the absolute absurdity of the value proposition the Liberals are talking about. If this is so necessary a service, why aren’t you paying them?! They were even willing to do it for free!
-My understanding is that there is no legal avenue for Meta or Google to actually comply with this request. C-18 requires that Meta and Google negotiate a rate with news orgs. They didn’t. The grace period passed. If they allowed Canadian Media posts right now not only would they be on the hook for whatever a mediator decided was the link rate, they’d also be fined.
You must keep us better informed of Canadian ethics….
Let me tell you about the Canadians. They are different than you and me.
Really? But then we can’t shift blame to them.
It is akin to Biden telling us that if there is no censorship on social media, how will we know what to believe? Pretty much the same attitude, in my opinion.
Yeah, my first thought on this story was: If it’s so damned important that social media sites help disseminate certain news stories where lives could be at stake, why can’t the Canadian government amend the law to allow certain stories to be designated as “Free to Forward” and thus not requiring the dreaded fee.
But apparently the Canadian government itself is too greedy to give up that extra revenue in order to save lives. Talk about hypocrisy!
Very few things piss me off more than government officials complaining about problems that they themselves created and for which they hold in their hands an obvious solution, but are oblivious to it because it might reduce their precious tax dollars. (Insert joke about “loonies” here.)
–Dwayne