C-18: the Minister of Canadian Heritage reacts to the “threat” of Facebook

Me, the threat, it doesn’t make me tremble well welldropped Mr. Rodriguez, Wednesday, during a scrum before entering a caucus meeting of his party.

A day earlier, a senior Meta Canada executive had hinted that removing the ability to post news articles on Facebook remained an option if Bill C-18 were passed.

This bill, introduced earlier this month, aims to force web giants to compensate the media.

We are reviewing all options based on our assessment of the billsaid Rachel Curran, public policy manager at Meta, during a meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security.

Minister Rodriguez also accused Meta’s spokeswoman of having lied stating that the company had not been consulted on the bill, having met with it himself. However, Ms. Curran rather indicated that the company was unaware of its scope until the bill was tabled.

Mr. Rodriguez, who is also a Quebec Liberal lieutenant, reiterated several times on Wednesday that professional journalism is a pillar of our democracy and that he is just normal that platforms that benefit from the value of journalistic content contribute to newsrooms.

He believes that Facebook has the right to interrupt certain services, without failing to point out that the platform has brandished a threat similar to Australia and thatin the end they [Facebook] remained.

Facebook has backed off and the Australian people didn’t like it very much. I don’t think the Canadian people like it very much either.he said, in reference to the threats of the social network.

Premature

Conservatives, for their part, said Facebook was a little too quick on the trigger.

For the moment, it was premature, in my opinion, for a giant like that to try to threaten parliamentarians before we even studied the bill.said their deputy leader and political lieutenant for Quebec, Luc Berthold.

The deputy, who was editor-in-chief before entering politics, said that regional and local newspapers have gone from 100 to 24 pages, or even 16.

It makes absolutely no sense, he was indignant. And where did all that money go? It’s not true that businesses don’t advertise. So we’ve seen advertising money leak to the web giants.

Although Mr. Berthold refuses to say clearly whether his training will support the bill, Senator Claude Carignan, who will be its critic in the Upper House, declared thatwe will… in any case, on my side, I will support it.

” It shows the need to pass the bill. I think we have to make sure that Facebook respects the rules like all the others. He thinks he is more powerful than a government. It’s time to act, then make sure we share the content. »

The example of Australia

New Democratic Party (NDP) Leader Jagmeet Singh said Facebook’s statement is not surprising becausethey threatened to do the same in Australia.

They don’t wanna pay their fair share, but that shouldn’t stop us from doing what’s right.he argued at a press conference.

At the Bloc Québécois, the spokesperson for heritage, Martin Champoux, also indicated that he was not surprised that Facebook reacted in this way and said that he was not worried.

This is exactly the position they have taken in Australia: to be a little threatening and to dismiss the possibility that this regulation can be done smoothlyhe noted in an interview with The Canadian Press. That said, I think the experience that has been had in Australia should reassure the Government of Canada.

Bill C-18 aims to force digital platforms such as Facebook into indemnification agreements fair with newsrooms.

If the legislation proves to be comparable to that adopted in Australia, the sums returning to the Canadian news media would be between 150 and 200 million dollars, had mentioned Minister Rodriguez.