The Liberal government tabled a bill today that will require online platforms to strike deals with media organizations for the displaying of their content. “As you guys know, the news sector in Canada is in crisis and this contributes to the heightened public mistrust and the rise of harmful disinformation in our society,” Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said while announcing Bill C-18 in a press conference in Ottawa on April 5. Rodriguez said that news organizations are disappearing in a changing information landscape where online platforms are collecting the lion’s share of ad revenues. “In 2020, online advertising revenues in Canada were close to $10 billion, with two dominant digital platforms taking over 80 percent of those revenues. That’s an incredible chunk of power in the market,” Rodriguez said in reference to Google and Facebook’s market share. Rodriguez added that as news is being shared more widely online, journalists and …