Canada tweaks Online News Act legislation to address Meta, Google concerns
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Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) have already blocked or are planning to block news sharing on their respective platforms in Canada, citing the country's Online News Act legislation that will see them pay for news. However, the Canadian government has attempted to address some of the company's concerns over the pending legislation.
The draft rules released on Friday speak to both Meta and Google's concerns that they may have a limitless liability from the legislation, Reuters reported.
The draft rules, which will be released for public comment, state that both companies need to voluntarily negotiate deals with Canadian news publishers and siphon off a portion of their global sales, with the formula based on a set calculation, the news outlet added.
Monetary and non-monetary contributions will be part of the deal and will take into account pre-existing deals, Reuters explained.
Meta has already ended access to news on Facebook and Instagram for its users in Canada. In June, Google said it would remove links to Canadian news from its Search, News and Discover products when the new law takes effect.
A Canadian government official told reporters that the proposals would raise C$172M, or $126.6M per year from Google and C$60M from Facebook.
If the two tech giants are unable to come to an agreement with the news publishers, they may be forced to do so via mandatory bargaining, with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission overseeing the negotiations.
The Canadian government hopes to have the structure in place by early 2025.

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