Hi everyone!
I don’t know if everyone else has noticed, but today (Nov. 29), it was announced that Google has reached a deal with the federal government to continue posting news online. I thought this came at a super relevant time as one of our last presentations touched on this topic (and the course in general).
Google stated they preferred negotiating with Canadian media organizations via “a single point of contact” versus “a mandatory negotiation model.” This is something the federal government has allowed, which would limit Google’s arbitration risk.
I found it interesting that the federal government has “softened” their stance on the issue, but perhaps this is a good thing as Canadians will continue to have access to online news. Also, we won’t need to switch over to Bing. This also makes me wonder where Meta will go now, as Meta and Google were really the only organizations Bill C-18 was aimed towards. Will they follow suit? Or will they continue to block Canadian news? Only time will tell and I’m curious to see what will happen once Bill C-18 comes into force. (Jenny Jang)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/google-online-news-act-1.7043330