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Should Google and Meta pay for news?

Since the advent of the printing press, the discussion of who should pay for news has been a never-ending debate. Should it be government funded? Should it be funded by private entities? Should a monopoly of ownership be allowed? Should news be publicly funded? And what is the difference? 
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Is Canada’s Bill C-13: An Act respecting online communications platforms that make news content available to persons in Canada, barking up the wrong tree? ‘I don’t know,’ is a phrase I will likely write a lot, while trying to answer that question. 

What is Bill C-13, you ask? It’s a piece of legislation that is likely to be passed at the federal level in the near future, after the Senate reviews it.  

Is it a positive step for the news landscape in Canada? Well, the intention behind the bill is positive, but will it have the intended results? I don’t know. 

The legislation would predominantly affect big tech. The Googles, Twitters, TikToks of the world, and of course the social networks that fall under Meta: Facebook, Instagram and Snap Chat.  

The push to have social media and search engine platforms among others contribute back to Canadian news organizations is a noble cause during a time where advertiser dollars are shifting from traditional methods directly into the pockets of big tech.  

In many ways, social media has come to fill a very similar role that old school newspapers have filled. People post about big events happening in their lives, they share ‘digital news clippings’ of articles that matter to them, and in emergencies they share posters or tips.  

And for a price, advertisers can control how many feeds their ‘digital billboards’ show up on. What we see as social media users is often dictated by how others are using their wallets and advertising dollars. 

What is disturbing about this is that as a social media and search engine user, we have no idea if what we see in the results of a search is what others around us are seeing too. 

With algorithms “personalizing” our online realities – is anything real?  

Canada’s federal government seems intent on following Australia’s footsteps in getting big tech companies who have essentially profited from local news organizations’ ever-flowing content to be redirect back to Canadian news outlets. 

But the move has created backlash from digital empires that aren’t interested in buying in or paying up. Companies like Facebook have threatened to block news from appearing on social media sites all together, even Google is testing removing news article from four per cent of its Canadian search engine users. 

This could have its own unintended consequences, as was the case when some government pages, all news stories and emergency alerts were temporarily blocked from Australian social media users. 

The reality is, it’s important that local journalism gets more funding to prevent more communities from becoming news deserts – but funding for newspapers can be a controversial subject where nuance is everything. 

Since the advent of the printing press, the discussion of who should pay for news has been a never-ending debate. 

Should it be government funded? Should it be funded by private entities? Should a monopoly of ownership be allowed? Should news be publicly funded? And what is the difference? 

As participants of the social media landscape, we must ask ourselves: What would happen if our newsfeeds went completely absent of all newsworthy content?




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