Liberal government tables legislation to force online giants to compensate news outlets
Bill demands that companies like Google and Facebook pay news businesses to use their content
The federal Liberal government introduced legislation Tuesday to force digital giants to compensate news publishers for the use of their content.
The new regulatory regime would require companies like Google and the Meta Platforms-owned Facebook — and other major online platforms that reproduce or facilitate access to news content — to either pay up or go through a binding arbitration process led by an arms-length regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
The compensation extracted from these digital giants must be used, in large part, to fund the creation of news content to protect the "sustainability of the Canadian news ecosystem," according to a government backgrounder distributed to reporters.
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The dominance over advertising once enjoyed by legacy media is over. Google and Facebook have a combined 80 per cent share of all online ad revenue in Canada and rake in an eye-popping $9.7 billion a year, according to government data.
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said Canada's news businesses should be compensated for helping Google and Facebook attract eyeballs.
more
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/online-giants-must-pay-for-news-bill-1.6408856
I am in complete agreement with this and it should have been done before but better late than never, imo.
