If you follow any Canadian News outlets on Instagram, you may have noticed the following:
This is a direct result of Meta’s pushback against The Online News Act.
The Online News Act (Bill C-18) states the following from Government of Ontario site (bolded text is mine)
News outlets play a vital role in maintaining a healthy democracy. News and journalism serve to inform communities, drive civic engagement, and counter the rise of disinformation. Our news industry fosters an informed citizenry by providing them with critical information that helps them fully benefit and participate in democratic society.
Most Canadians now get their news online. In 2022, online advertising revenues in Canada were $14 billion, with two platforms receiving roughly 80 percent of these revenues. While digital platforms earn billions in online advertising, more news outlets shutter each year, due in large part to a loss of advertising revenue.
The Online News Act aims to ensure that dominant platforms compensate news businesses when their content is made available on their services.
The Act creates a bargaining framework to ensure that platforms compensate news businesses fairly. It encourages platforms to reach voluntary commercial agreements with a range of news businesses.
If parties are not able to come to fair agreements independently, they would have to proceed to a mediated mandatory bargaining process. If, after mediation, the parties are still unable to reach an agreement, each party would submit a final offer, and an arbitral panel would choose one of the two offers.
The Act received royal assent on June 22, 2023. The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is responsible for overseeing the bargaining framework under the Act…
The Online News Act will come into effect in its entirety no later than December 19, 2023, 180 days after the Act received royal assent.
More context
Read the entire Act including provisions here.
The CBC recently put out this informational piece about what’s happening and some of the implications.
Theresa Aqui, OFSHEEA 2023 president, and Diana Maliszewski, AML 2023 co-vice-president wrote an article for the Association for Media Literacy: 5 Easy Ways to Keep Canadian News in your Day
This is a matter of money. Check out this Forbes article.
And read META’s statement here.
My ongoing questions:
- Most teens increasingly get their news from social media feeds, so will they even notice?
- How important is it for Canadians to ensure there is a balance of Canadian News on their social media feeds?
- What impact do algorithms have on what news we see?
- Can we do anything ensure people know of the ongoing concerns and the impact of what’s happening?
- What will the impact on the Canadian News Industry be?
- Will other countries find themselves in similar positions?
I was interested in exploring this as a lesson within the grade 9 destreamed English class and created this draft lesson (I call it a draft because I won’t know what to change until I actually teach it). Have a look and let me know what you think.