Question Period Note: Online News Act: Conclusion of Discussions with Google

The Online News Act (the Act) received Royal Assent on June 22, 2023, and will come into effect in its entirety no later than December 19, 2023. The Government is currently developing the regulatory framework to support the implementation of the Act. In August 2023, Meta began permanently ending the provision of news content on its platforms in Canada and Google had indicated it might do likewise if its concerns could not be addressed through regulation. On November 29, 2023, the Government announced that it had agreed with Google on a path forward, and that, as a result, Google will not be pulling news from its search engine in Canada.

• A sustainable news ecosystem is good for everyone. The Online News Act ensures that the revenues of digital platforms are shared more fairly with Canadian news outlets.

• A contribution by Google under the Act will benefit the news sector and allow Google to continue to play an important role in giving Canadians access to reliable news content.

• The Online News Act is a viable, equitable framework that is positive for news organizations, digital platforms and Canadians.

• News and journalism are crucial to democracy as they serve to inform communities, drive civic engagement, and counter the rise of disinformation. The Canadian news sector is under significant financial pressure.
• Digital platforms hold significant reach and influence in Canadian society. A small number of them derive significant financial benefits from their operations in Canada, including the selling of audiences to advertisers; thereby undermining the traditional revenue model that supports news media. In 2022, online advertising revenues in Canada were over $14 billion, with Google and Facebook receiving nearly 75 percent of these revenues. Meta and Google had reached commercial agreements to fund certain Canadian news media businesses directly and are building partnerships with several news organizations. These contributions were made on a voluntary basis without regulatory oversight. Meta has since announced that it is terminating its agreements both in Canada, as well as in other countries.
• Beginning in April 2021, the Department of Canadian Heritage engaged with a variety of stakeholders in the sector on how platforms should support the news sector. The Minister of Canadian Heritage’s 2021 mandate letter instructed him to enact a bargaining framework modelled on Australia.
• Bill C-18, the Online News Act, was tabled on April 5, 2022, and received Royal Assent on June 22, 2023. The legislation promotes a level playing field between news media and large digital platforms. A key objective of the Act is to encourage platforms and news businesses to reach voluntary agreements. Failing that, it provides for mandatory negotiation, backstopped by final offer arbitration.
• According to the draft regulations, the Act is expected to apply to digital platforms with 20 million unique monthly users in Canada and annual revenues greater than $1 billion. Only Meta and Google services currently meet those criteria.
• In response to the Act, both Google and Meta have threatened to block access to Canadian news content on their services. In August 2023, Meta began to permanently end the provision of news on its platforms in Canada. Google indicated it might do likewise if its concerns could not be addressed.
• Proposed regulations were published in the Canada Gazette, Part I on September 2, 2023, for a 30-day consultation period, ending October 2, 2023. The proposed regulations provide additional clarity on which platforms will be subject to the Act and how they can obtain an exemption from the mandatory bargaining and final offer arbitration provisions under the framework.
• In its submission as part of the regulatory process, Google continued to express concerns with the proposed framework, including its financial liability under the Act and a lack of clarity about what the company would need to do to get an exemption.
• On November 29, 2023, the Government announced that it agreed on a path forward with Google. Specifically, under this path forward, Google would contribute $100 million in financial support annually, indexed to inflation, for a wide range of news businesses across the country, including independent news businesses and those from Indigenous and official-language minority communities. Google will have the option to work with a single collective to distribute its contribution to all interested eligible news businesses based on the number of full-time equivalent journalists engaged by those businesses. In addition to its financial contribution, Google can continue to make other non-monetary contributions to news organizations (e.g., support for training or business development).

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