The Canadian government on Tuesday introduced a bill to force web giants such as Facebook and Google to enter into business deals with media outlets to pay them for broadcasting their content.
“Thanks to this law, the giants of the web will have to be held accountable, contribute to the establishment of a more equitable information ecosystem, an ecosystem that supports independence, freedom of the press,” Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodríguez said in a statement. a news conference.
The text seeks to “guarantee that the media and journalists receive fair compensation for their work,” according to a ministry statement.
The bill, called the “Online News Act”, is inspired by the one adopted in 2021 by Australia, the first of its kind in the world.
More than 450 Canadian media outlets have closed since 2008, including more than 60 in the last two years alone, according to the ministry.
The press accuses the Google group and other large platforms of profiting from their content without sharing the income they get from it.
To resolve this situation, the European Union introduced in 2019 a “neighboring right” that should allow press publishers to receive remuneration for the content used by online platforms.
The AFP signed a “related rights” agreement with Google at the end of 2021 that remunerates the agency for five years for its content presented by the American giant, as well as two commercial contracts, also signed for five years.
