In a written statement, Meta’s head of public policy in Canada, Rachel Curran, says the company wants to avoid submit to government-mandated negotiations that do not sufficiently account for the value we present to publishers
.
The law, she argues, would primarily benefit broadcasters – not local and regional newspapers.
The piece of legislation proposed by Justin Trudeau’s Liberals aims to force digital platforms – mainly Google and Facebook – to enter into fair compensation agreements with news companies for the sharing of their journalistic content.
The Conservative Party opposes
As the bill makes its way through the Upper House, the company now wants to lobby senators.
We urge the Senate to carefully consider the implications of a bill that will affect how information is shared online and hurt new local news outlets.
said Ms. Curran.
The Liberals, Bloc and New Democrats voted in favor of the bill and the Conservatives supported it. Thus, according to the unofficial results, 213 deputies voted for and 114 against.
On Twitter, the Minister of Canadian Heritage and sponsor of the bill, Pablo Rodriguez, held back the passage of a bill important to ensure that we have a strong, independent and sustainable press in Canada.
Mr. Rodriguez had not commented on Meta’s threats at the time of this writing, but in the previous episode he demonstrated that the threat, it does not make me tremble well well
. He did not fail to point out that the web giant made a similar threat to Australia and thatin the end, they stayed
.
In a comparison this fall before the House of Commons Heritage Committee, Meta global policy director Kevin Chan argued that links posted on Facebook to media content generated 1.9 billion clicks. per year, which would be the equivalent of $230 million.
Or, Meta used the same strategy in Australia following the passage of a similar bill. The company first pulled news content from its platform, then days later ended up backtracking and making major deals with news companies.