Commentary
Now that Canada’s Bill C-18 has made its way through Parliament and has received royal assent, the battle of wills between the government and social media platforms begins in earnest.
The regulations packed into C-18 amount to little more than a shakedown of social media platforms on behalf of financially failing legacy media outlets. Social media platforms provide a service in linking to news stories, and the government absurdly wants to charge those platforms for providing that service. It’s a means to try and subsidize unsustainable media outlets without having to spend tax dollars, and social media platforms have had enough….