Under Online News Act, Meta, Google might have to pay CA$230 million to Canadian media

If Google and Meta contribute nearly CA$230 million between them to Canadian media outlets, they could receive exemptions under the Online News Act.

There were the estimates offered by Ottawa, as the Department of Canadian Heritage released draft regulations towards the implementation of the Act, which has already seen Meta remove news links from its platforms, Facebook and Instagram, in Canada, while Google has threatened to do the same.

The break-up of the amount due from the two tech giants, according to Canadian media, is CA$ 172 million for Google and CA$ 62 million in compensation from them to Canadian journalism.

“Canadians rely on digital platforms to access their news and information, but these tech platforms have to act responsibly and support the news sharing they and Canadians both benefit from,” Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St-Onge said in a statement.

Information released by the Government showed that in 2021, online advertising revenues in Canada reached CA$12.3 billion, with Google and Meta having a combined share of 79 per cent of these revenues.

Digital platforms will meet the threshold for compensating Canadian media outlets if they earn a total global revenue of CA$ 1 billion or more, operate in a search engine or social media market involving the distribution and access of online news content in Canada and have 20 million or more average monthly unique visitors in Canada or average monthly active users in Canada.

According to Canadian media, only Meta and Google qualify at this time, though Microsoft’s Bing could also reach the threshold if it continues to grow its reach in Canada.

However, Meta does not appear to be swayed. In a statement, reported by the outlet Globe and Mail, Rachel Curran, head of public policy at Meta Canada, said, “As the legislation is based on the incorrect assertion that Meta benefits unfairly from the news content shared on our platforms, today’s proposed regulations will not impact our business decision to end news availability in Canada.”

Google spokesperson Shay Purdy said it was “carefully reviewing the proposed regulations to assess whether they resolve the serious structural issues” with the Act, which became law in June and will come into force before the end of this year.

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