C-18: Canadian Heritage Minister responds to Facebook “threat”

I, the threat, I am not thrilled good gooddropped Mr. Rodriguez, Wednesday, in a scrum before entering a caucus meeting of his party.

A day earlier, a senior executive of Meta Canada indicated that removing the ability to post news articles on Facebook would remain an option on the table if Bill C-18 is passed.

This bill, introduced earlier this month, aims to force web giants to pay the media.

We review all options based on our bill analysissaid Rachel Curran, public policy manager at Meta, at a meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security.

Minister Rodriguez also accused the Meta spokesperson of having lied stating that the company had not consulted on the bill, which met right here. However, Ms. indicated. Curran that the company did not know its scope until the bill was filed.

Mr. Rodriguez, who is also a Quebec Liberal lieutenant, reiterated Wednesday that professional journalism is a pillar of our democracy and he is just normal that platforms that benefit from the value of journalism content contribute to newsrooms.

Mr Rodriguez believes Facebook has the right to stop certain services, without failing to point out that it has posed a similar threat to Australia and thatultimately, they [Facebook] remained.

Facebook has backtracked and people in Australia didn’t like it and I think Canadians didn’t like it either.he said, in reference to social network threats.

It’s too early

Conservatives, for their part, say Facebook is a bit too quick to trigger.

At the moment, it is too early, in my opinion, for such a giant to try to threaten parliamentarians before we even study the bill.said their deputy leader and political lieutenant for Quebec Luc Berthold.

The MP, who was an editor before entering politics, said regional and local newspapers had grown from 100 to 24, even 16 pages.

This is completely pointlesshe is angry. And where did all the advertising money go? It’s not true that businesses don’t advertise. So we saw the leakage of advertising money to the web giants.

Although Mr. Berthold declined to say clearly whether his practice would support the bill, Senator Claude Carignan, who would be its critic in the Upper House, stated thatwe will … in any case, on my side, I will support.

” This shows the need to pass the bill. I think we need to make sure Facebook respects the rules like everyone else. And when you think you’re more powerful than a government, it’s time to act, then make sure you share the content. “

The example of Australia

New Democratic Party (NDP) Leader Jagmeet Singh said Facebook’s statement was not surprising becausethey threatened to do the same in Australia.

They don’t want to pay their fair share, but that doesn’t stop us from doing the right thinghe argued at a press conference.

In the Bloc Québécois, the spokesman for the heritage, Martin Champoux, also indicated that he was not surprised that Facebook reacted in this way and said he was not worried.

That’s the exact position they took in Australia: to be a small threat and to rule out the possibility that this regulation could be fixed.he said in an interview with The Canadian Press. That being said, I think the experience in Australia should provide reassurance to the Government of Canada.

Bill C-18 aims to force digital platforms like Facebook into compensation agreements fair there are newsrooms.

If the impact of the law is proven to be comparable to that enacted in Australia, the amounts returned to Canadian information media are estimated at between 150 and 200 million dollars, Minister Rodriguez said.