OTTAWA—Google, one of the web giants at the heart of the federal government’s online news bill, says the legislation could lower the quality of journalism in Canada, contributing to a worrying spread of misinformation online.
Bill C-18, also known as the Online News Act, would compel large online platforms to share some of the revenues they generate from posting news content on their sites with the media outlets that produced the stories.
In a blog post published Monday afternoon, the tech company argues that the current version of the bill, which is at second reading in the House of Commons, too loosely defines which news businesses are eligible to strike deals with online platforms.
“This means that any opinion or commentary blog with two or more people could be eligible to receive funds. It also means that foreign state-owned outlets could be eligible, even if they are known sources of misinformation and propaganda,” the post reads.
“In other words, the bill would force Google to subsidize outlets that do not adhere to any journalistic standards, creating a regime that allows bad actors and those peddling misinformation to thrive and profit.”
Under the legislation, eligible news outlets must be considered a qualified Canadian journalism organization (QCJO) under the Income Tax Act, or must meet four other criteria that ensures they are legitimate news organizations. That criteria includes producing news “primarily focused on matters of general interest and reports of current events”, employing two or more journalists in Canada, operating in Canada, and creating news content that is not focused on a single topic like sports or entertainment.
Google’s argument that the bill would amplify the proliferation of misleading content online is at odds with the government’s rationale behind introducing C-18 in the first place, billing the legislation as an opportunity to revive Canada’s news industry and improve the information landscape in this country.
The bill targets tech titans who dominate the digital advertising market. According to the federal government, more than 450 Canadian media outlets closed between 2008 and 2021, and in 2020, 80 per cent of online ad revenues went to Google and Facebook. Many in the industry have lobbied Ottawa to address that market imbalance, including Torstar, which publishes the Toronto Star.
But Google says that the bill could set a precedent where potential sources of misinformation might “insist on artificially inflating their ranking” on the site’s search results.
“We work hard to ensure that Canadians don’t come across harmful content on Google Search. But a section of the bill prohibits ‘undue preference’ re: ‘eligible news businesses’, without saying what that means. And it could mean making us liable for not displaying spammers, foreign propagandists, and those who seek to mislead and defraud you,” the post notes.
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez has said “transparency” over which businesses and platforms are eligible under the bill are a critical part of the proposed legislation.
Under the proposed legislation, it will fall to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, not the government, to decide which news organizations qualify for entering into arrangements with digital platforms.
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