The first post in this series on Bill C-18, the Online News Act, focused on the problematic approach to what constitutes “making news content available”, as it encompasses everything from indexing to linking to news stories without reproducing the actual text. The approach raises serious risks to the free flow of information online and expands the law far beyond reasonable expectations of what “use” of news articles might mean. But the problems with expansive definitions in the bill are not limited to the “making available” provision. Bill C-18’s definitions for “news content”, “news business”, and “news outlet” are also exceptionally broad, raising their own series of concerns.
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Law Bytes
Episode 264: Jon Penney on Chilling Effects in the Digital Age
byMichael Geist

March 30, 2026
Michael Geist
March 16, 2026
Michael Geist
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Michael Geist on Substack
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