As the national voice of Canada’s private broadcasters, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) sees Google’s tactic to limit news content for some users in Canada as reinforcing why Bill C-18, the Online News Act, is so vital.
Google and other global digital giants such as Facebook have shown that they do not intend to play fair, and they will do everything they can to continue to set the rules that work best for themselves, no matter the detriment to the public interest.
“These are bully tactics, and Google is trying to push the Senate to back down on Bill C-18. We hope Senators will see these actions for what they are,” says CAB President Kevin Desjardins. “Bill C-18 was introduced to set up fair negotiations between news organizations and these global digital giants on the value of their news content. Google has shown they’re willing to block Canadians’ vital access to legitimate news content to maintain their dominance in the advertising field.”
Google and Facebook are able to use the value of private broadcasters’ news content to identify who Canadians are and what they consume, then sell this data to advertisers. Those advertising dollars used to support our news organizations and cultural institutions, but now they are flowing out of Canada to Silicon Valley.
That is why we need Bill C-18 – so that Canadian news organizations have a fair opportunity to be compensated for the value of their dependable, professional news content, and so that Canadians continue to have access to information from news media they know they can trust.