Canada's government introduces legislation that would force major online platforms run by Google and Meta to negotiate deals with publishers, like in Australia
Canada’s proposal sits alongside its earlier effort to apply broadcasting-style requirements to large tech companies. It would bring publisher compensation into the same broader contest over platform obligations rather than leave news distribution solely to Google and Meta’s terms.
The proposal’s stakes became clearer in later coverage: Google and Meta threatened to remove access to news, while Canada subsequently sought to address Bill C-18 concerns with estimated annual publisher payments and Meta maintained its plan to block news. By 2026, restoring Meta news access had entered Canada-US trade discussions.
First-order effects
The legislation starts a formal path for Canadian publishers to seek negotiated compensation from Google and Meta for news carried on their platforms, subject to passage and implementation.
Google and Meta face a new Canadian policy challenge centered on their role as gateways to publisher content, not only their existing broadcasting-related obligations.
Second-order effects
Google and Meta’s later withdrawal warnings put publishers’ platform referral access at risk, turning compensation negotiations into a trade-off between payment and distribution.
Canada’s effort to specify estimated annual payments sharpened the divide between Google’s and Meta’s responses, with Meta continuing toward news blocking in the related coverage.
Third-order effects
The dispute establishes platform access to news as leverage in negotiations between governments, publishers, and dominant distribution platforms; the later trade talks show that leverage can extend beyond media policy.
If governments continue tying compensation rules to platform carriage, publishers may face a less stable distribution relationship even where bargaining frameworks are designed to support them.
The trend: News-compensation policy is evolving into a broader struggle over whether platform gatekeepers can respond to mandated publisher payments by restricting news access.
If you like how Australia forced Facebook and Google to pay news organizations, you're going to love Canada's new “Online News Act” which also forces tech to bargain with media companies or face arbitration. https://www.parl.ca/...
The Online News Act (Bill C-18) requires platforms to pay for links to news stories, including public and private broadcasters (CBC). Massive role for the CRTC: 1️⃣Determines whether platforms exempt from mandatory bargaining (if the private deal meets regulatory requirements) 1/…
It is primarily about transferring $ from Google & Facebook to Canadian news media via corporatist bargaining arrangements b/w both vs addressing market dominance & gatekeeper power wherever it exists in the network media ecology.
The biggest problems w/ the Online News Act are: 1. it's built on severe misdiagnoses of the problems facing news media & incessant lobbying vs an adequate understanding of the long-term confluence of factors that have led us to the ‘crisis of journalism’ & public interests; 2.
Canadian media should not have its funding directly linked to Google and Facebook. It creates terrible incentives. I'm in favour of public support for media, but it should come from general revenue, not the tech giants. (Tax them separately.) https://www.cbc.ca/...
There are many troubling aspects to the Online News Act, but attempts to formalize platform regs cld be a good thing, even if this bill doesn't do it. Measures drawn from telecoms regs prohibiting undue discrimination by platforms is 1 good thing. https://www.parl.ca/... https://…
This is an absolutely massive intervention into the news sector with the government ruling that links to news must be paid for and the CRTC overseeing what deals are “fair”. My post from earlier today on why this is terrible policy: 3/3 https://www.michaelgeist.ca/ ...
A free and independent press is essential to Canada's democracy. We're asking tech giants to fairly compensate publishers and journalists for their work and to contribute to the sustainability of local, independent news in Canada. #cdnpoli #C18 https://twitter.com/...
2️⃣Facilitates mandatory bargaining process if requested by eligible Canadian service 3️⃣Ensure deals “contribute to health of news ecosystem” 4️⃣Oversees codes of conduct, use auditor to review the deals and assess their impact 5️⃣Monitor compliance with millions in penalties 2/…
Eligible media outlets will be news business regularly employing two or more journalists in Canada, operating largely within Canada, producing content edited & designed in Canada, & primarily producing news content. https://www.cbc.ca/...