Now that Meta has followed through on its threat to block Canadian news content on its Instagram and Facebook platforms, people who work in the media and others who care about Canadian news have been asking the question \"What next?\".<\/p>\n
Pascale Ste. Onge is the newly appointed Minister of Canadian Heritage. She is also the MP for the riding of Brome-Missisquoi in Quebec's Eastern Townships, which is also the home to CIDI, the Township's community radio station. The station had the opportunity to ask the Minister directly.\u00a0 The station also spoke to Paul Deegan from News Media Canada and Alex Freedman of the Community Radio Fund of Canada.<\/p>\n
Meta and Google are proceeding to block Canadian news across their platforms after the technology giants decided to reject the Canadian government\u2019s Bill C-18<\/span><\/a> legislation, which will require digital platforms to compensate Canadian media organizations for any news content that they make available to Canadian citizens. As a number of new outlets close their doors, more recently newspaper publisher Metro Media, Meta and Google's decision comes at a vulnerable time for the Canadian news industry. <\/span><\/p>\n The federal government is currently in the midst of drawing up the regulations for Bill C-18, otherwise known as the Online News Act. Newly appointed Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St-Onge described Meta and Google\u2019s quick decision to block Canadian news content on their platforms as a \u201ccowboy move to make\u201d considering that Bill C-18 has yet to be applied.<\/p>\n \u201cThe phase that we are in right now is a regulatory process. The regulations will come out in the next few days or weeks. Stakeholders, including Facebook and Google, but also citizens and our news media, will have 30 days to give us their comments on this proposal and then once we collect those comments, suggestions, or ideas, we\u2019re going to publish the official regulations and the law will start being applied,\u201d she explained. \u201cWhen I met with them, I asked them to keep an open mind, to participate in the regulatory process, and to give us their ideas and opinion. (\u2026) I truly believe that what we are proposing not only to both [Meta] and Google, but also to our news media section, is something that is totally viable, respectful of their business models, and it will provide predictability for all players. \u201d<\/p>\n Bill C-18 officially became law in June of this year and it proposes a framework that encourages \u201cdigital news intermediaries,\u201d which includes search engines and social media platforms, to enter into agreements with news outlets to compensate them for the news content they benefit from as advertising revenue shifts to these platforms. The intentions behind Bill C-18 is to establish more \u201cfairness\u201d in the Canadian news market to ensure a thriving media landscape in the country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As the federal government moves forward with the regulatory process, St-Onge noted that it will be keeping an open dialogue with Meta and Google with hopes of eventually reaching an agreement that is suitable for all parties.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course I\u2019m going to maintain an open discussion with Meta and Google and I have met with them already. I feel like those conversations were not only extremely positive and constructive, but also very honest. I explained, and I re-expressed, our position which is more than 500 new media have closed across the country since the creation and arrival of those two platforms in Canada,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to back down from making sure that everyone participates in making our news media market a sustainable one, it\u2019s at the forefront of our democracy. (\u2026) But, at the same time, [Meta] has decided to prevent users from sharing journalistic information to family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n