By Canadian Press

Law would allow news outlets to negotiate with digital giants for payment: minister

Feb 23, 2022 | 2:22 PM

OTTAWA — Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez says he is pressing ahead with plans to introduce a law to make digital media giants pay Canadian outlets for using their news.

Speaking at a virtual conference on the future of news, Rodriguez says the new law will create a framework for news organizations to collectively negotiate fair deals with online entities such as Google.

He says the government will base a forthcoming law on one brought forward in Australia to make digital giants pay for news content, but it will contain some differences.

Canada would have a regulator and impose arbitration if a fair deal cannot be struck between Canadian media and the likes of Google and Meta, formerly known as Facebook.

Google’s vice-president of news Richard Gingras says the search engine is not opposed to regulation, but wants to protect the open internet and the principle of free linking between sites. 

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He criticized Australia’s law, saying its arbitration model was unbalanced and unpredictable and he hoped Canada would come up with a more workable blueprint.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 23, 2022. 

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