Later today, the Canadian Heritage committee will continue its clause-by-clause review of Bill C-18, the Online News Act. The committee is virtually certain to expand the eligibility of news outlets, responding to concerns that the current criteria may exclude smaller, independent outlets from benefiting from the bill’s mandatory payment/arbitration system. However, earlier this week, just as the committee was hearing that the bill covers quotes with links to news content by users in Facebook posts, it quietly expanded the scope of the definition of “eligible news business” in a manner that opened the eligibility door to some organizations that may not even produce news content. As a result, the bill faces another potential trade challenge as it evolves into a straight subsidy model in which the bulk of the payments go from Internet companies to Canadian broadcasters with little regard for value or any notion of actually use of news content.
Archive for December 2nd, 2022

Law Bytes
Episode 186: Andy Kaplan-Myrth on the CRTC’s Last Ditch Attempt to Fix Canada’s Internet Competition Problem
byMichael Geist

November 27, 2023
Michael Geist
November 20, 2023
Michael Geist
November 13, 2023
Michael Geist
November 6, 2023
Michael Geist
October 30, 2023
Michael Geist
Search Results placeholder
Recent Posts
Skillful Negotiation or Legislative Fail? Taking Stock of the Bill C-18 Deal With Google
Salvaging Bill C-18: Government Upends Legislation To Bring Google Onside the Online News Act
Accountability and Antisemitism: The Canadian Heritage Committee Needs To Step Up
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 186: Andy Kaplan-Myrth on the CRTC’s Last Ditch Attempt to Fix Canada’s Internet Competition Problem
On Media Bailouts and Bias: Why Government Media Policy Is Undermining Public Trust