Examining the Canadian government's deal with Google over the Online News Act.
Google to pay Canada news publishers $73m a year to keep news in search | The Guardian | Blake Montgomery and agencies:
November 30, 2023 - "Canada and Google have reached a deal to keep links to news stories in search results and for the tech giant to pay $73.6m annually, or C$100m, to news publishers in the country. The deal resolves Alphabet-owned Google’s concerns over Canada’s Online News Act, which seeks to make large internet companies share advertising revenue with news publishers in the country.... The Online News Act, part of a global trend to make internet giants pay for news, passed in June and the government is finalizing rules that are expected to be released by a 19 December deadline.....
"As part of the agreement with Canada, Google will annually contribute C$100m, indexed to inflation, to news businesses, and the company will have the option to work with a single collective to distribute the funds. Google had previously threatened to block news on its search engine, a major source of traffic for nearly all websites on the internet.... The company said it was concerned it would be exposed to potentially uncapped liability....
"The legislation came after complaints from Canada’s media industry, which wants tighter regulation of tech companies to prevent them from elbowing news businesses out of the online advertising market. Paul Deegan, the chief executive officer of industry body News Media Canada, welcomed the agreement and thanked the government for ensuring cash compensation for publishers. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp broke the news of the deal earlier. 'We commend Google for their good faith, socially responsible approach,' Deegan added in a statement."
Google reaches deal with Canada, will compensate news outlets $100 million annually | Global News | November 30, 2023:
The Feds Have Surrendered to Google Over Online News Act. Now What? | Epoch Times | Peter Menzies:
November 30, 2023 - "Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge, as expected, termed the deal “historic” and insisted there were “absolutely no concessions” on the government’s part. How her nose did not grow at least two feet longer while saying this is quite beyond me. Because the facts of the matter are that for the past two months, the government and the news industry lobbyists who promoted the act (Bill C-18) have been desperately trying to placate Google in order to prevent it from doing what Meta had already done — block news links in Canada.... Google had indicated it would ... unless the government manipulated the regulations supporting Bill C-18 to address its concerns. It ... needed a cap on its financial liability and ... couldn’t possibly comply with the expectation that it engage in what would have been multiple negotiations and arbitrations....
"But ... the bureaucrats at Canadian Heritage were able to get the regulations to say what Google needed them to say to agree to disarm and pay the amount of money it was always willing to pay — $100 million. What that means is that the news industry will now form itself into a single collective consisting of broadcasters, legacy print media, digital startups, and assorted others. Who will determine membership and how remains unclear.... The next step for the collective will be defining what roles qualify as 'journalism\ jobs.... That will be necessary because when it comes to dividing up the $100 million, it will be done purely on a per journalism employee basis. (I am assuming this because that is the sort of arrangement Google was looking for and it is relatively non-contentious.)...
"But here’s the rub. Prior to the introduction of the Online News Act, Google already had deals in place with publishers such as the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, Postmedia, and others, including broadcasters. It is extremely likely that the amount of money that once was flowing from Google through those agreements (they are private so we don’t know their value) will now be diverted to the $100 million 'collective' pot. That means the net benefit of St-Onge’s 'historic' deal is probably considerably less than $100 million....
"It gets worse. The Online News Act was originally promoted by legacy newspaper publishers — the group hardest hit by the invention of the internet and its plethora of alternative advertising and information platforms. Then the broadcasters, including CBC, muscled their way into the conversation. So now, with the $100 million being divided up on a per-journo basis, guess who has the most journalists? The CBC/Societé Radio Canada of course. Next up is Bellmedia with its TV, radio, and online reporters, probably followed by Rogers. In fact, preliminary estimates were that 75 percent of the cash produced by Bill C-18 would go to broadcasters. That leaves $25 million for the far more financially desperate legacy print publishers who, as noted, already had deals with Google.
"Don’t get me wrong. It is a good thing the government found a way to surrender to Google and avoid the nuclear option of it de-indexing news from its search engine. That would have been catastrophic. But there is no amount of lipstick that can pretty up the Bill C-18 pig."
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