The Canadian Online News Act, Bill C-18, received ‘royal assent’ after being passed by the Senate of Canada, making it law. The bill aims to bring fairness in the economic relationship between the news industry and online platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Bill C-18 will require platforms like Google and Meta to pay media outlets for news content they share or repurpose on their platforms. An independent Canadian Parliament watchdog estimates the Online News Act could provide around $329.2 million CAD (£196m) per annum to news businesses across Canada. 

The Canadian Federal Government says doing this would allow struggling news organisations to secure fair compensation for the news they produce being shared on digital platforms.

In response to the new law, which will take six months to come into force, Meta – parent company of Facebook and Instagram – says it will begin blocking news for Canadian users over the next few months. 

“We have repeatedly shared that in order to comply with Bill C-18 … content from news outlets, including news publishers and broadcasters, will no longer be available to people accessing our platforms in Canada,” Meta said in a statement shortly after the Online News Act passed without the changes the tech giant had been asking for. 

Meta also said the changes to news would not have an impact on other services for Canadian users.

Meanwhile, Canada’s Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez held “very blunt” and “very open” talks with Google executives in a bid to stop the search engine from making a similar move. 

“If the Government can’t stand up for Canadians against tech giants, who will?” said Rodriguez in a statement following the matter. 

A similar code passed in Australia in 2021 saw Meta briefly block users from sharing or viewing news on Facebook.

This prompted the Australian government to strike a deal which agreed not to apply the code to Meta or Google if they entered a licencing agreement with the media publishers, making them paid partners of the platform.

Facebook restored news to feeds after the government agreed not to apply the code to the company and others such as Google if they entered into licensing agreements with media publishers. After which, 30 deals were cut between media publications and tech companies leading Australian lawmakers to call the endeavour a success.

While the Bill is meant to protect media publications in a digital media paradigm owned by large tech companies by securing funding for news content shared on large platforms, the withdrawal of news content from Meta could lead to further losses in the short term.

Publishers estimated losses in the millions for both the publishers and Meta,  Facebook and Instagram stopped Canadians seeing news over its platforms in a hearing before the Senate committee last month. 

This adds to an already fragile media landscape in Canada, which has seen some of its largest legacy media organisations haemorrhage earnings, leading to massive layoffs. The most recent of these was media and telecom firm Bell, who shuttered six radio stations and sold another three earlier this month, leading to 1,300 job losses. 

According to Rodriguez, his department will continue to hold conversations with the tech giants in the coming months. 

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Despite the potential losses if Meta or Google withdraw Canadian news content from their platforms, the outlook on behalf of Canadian media stakeholders to strike a deal with the tech giants is optimistic. 

“This is an important first step to level the playing field and address the significant market power imbalance between publishers and platforms,”  said Jamie Irving, chair of News Media Canada.

“Real journalism, created by real journalists, continues to be demanded by Canadians and is vital to our democracy, but it costs real money,” said Paul Deegan, president and chief executive officer of News Media Canada. “Publishers look forward to participating in the bargaining process in good faith.”