In regards to Trudeau further politicizing wildfires doubling down on St-Onge's comments a few days ago and denouncing Meta for abiding by the newly created Liberal-NDP law.
Michael Geist, speaks out on the recent government and media outcry against Meta, and how recent political rhetoric is depending on misinformed Canadians to garner emotional support. This was written before Trudeau's denouncing earlier today.
https://www.michaelgeist.ca/2023/08/...aking-process/
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The government and supporters of Bill C-18 talking points now emphasize two things in relation to Meta blocking news links: the law has yet to take effect and there is room to address their concerns in the regulation-making process. Both of these claims are incredibly deceptive, relying on the assumption that most won’t bother to read the actual legislation. If they did, they would see that (1) the law has received royal assent and can take effect anytime and (2) the regulation making process addresses only a small subset of Bill C-18 issues with most of the core issues finalized. In other words, the time to shape the law and address many of the key concerns was before the government repeatedly cut off debate in order to ensure it that received royal assent before the summer break.
When News Media Canada says “what we’re saying to Meta is, ‛The regulations aren’t drafted yet. Pick up a pen. Put down your saber and let’s try to work through this together” it’s a fake out designed to deceive. There are no regulations to be discussed that change the core elements of the law. It’s been decided, has received royal assent, and kicks in anytime within the next 120 days. News Media Canada and the associated lobby groups won the battle for Bill C-18. It’s the resulting consequences they don’t like.
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Also notable is the extreme negative impact it has had on small media who depend on social media for reach, and aren't as well known as the big media conglomerates.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/met...news-1.6941615
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"What this bill has done is we've put a halt on any new market expansions and hiring more journalists in those markets," Elgie said.
Elgie and MacNeill, though both operating in the local news industry, expressed widely different positions on C-18, which is meant to force Meta and Google to enter into agreements to compensate news agencies for content that appears on their platforms.
"I hate it," Elgie said.
"I don't object to the notion that Google and Facebook should support journalism," Elgie said. "But the premise of C-18, what we said, which is basically, 'They steal our content, they're immoral, they don't do anything for the publishing industry,' is all false."
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Unfortunately C-18 was never about saving media, it was never about protecting Canadians or Canadian interests, it was done solely to be a cash grab to the benefit of big media who lobbied to the government. It's clear though that both the Liberals and the media conglomerates grossly miscalculated the fallout and now have egg on their face.
It should be noted that it's extremely hard to get unbiased news and commentary specifically on C-18 and its consequences as all major media groups in Canada including Quebecor and Postmedia are also staunch supporters of it. We should be thankful to have impartial non-partisan critics like Michael Geist (once championed for his stance against Harper's "anti-consumer" copyright law) who makes arguments based on the law and its justifications.