Commentary
Facebook has fired a shot across the bow of the Trudeau government’s plan to bail out cash-starved mainstream media.
In a withering response to Australia’s 12-month review of legislation forcing online entities to share revenue with designated news publishers, Facebook’s parent company, Meta, makes it clear that, as things stand, it has no interest in playing sugar daddy to legacy news organizations. Canada’s Online News Act (Bill C-18), tabled earlier this year, will force online companies such as Meta and Google to reach “commercial agreements” with government-approved media—including the CBC—to fund their newsrooms. Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez has frequently pointed to Australia as Canada’s inspiration for Bill C-18….