CBC, media groups ask Competition Bureau to investigate Meta's move to block news in Canada
Meta announced it's ending news availability in Canada over Online News Act
CBC/Radio-Canada has joined other news publishers and broadcasters in requesting that Canada's Competition Bureauinvestigate Meta's decision to block news content on its digital platforms in Canada, describing the social media giant's decision as "anticompetitive."
Meta, which owns platforms like Facebook and Instagram, announced recently that it is permanently ending news availability for users in Canada in response to the country's Online News Act, or Bill C-18, a law that requirestech companieslike Google and Meta to pay media outlets for news content they share or otherwise repurpose on their platforms.
Critics of Bill C-18, including Meta and Google, say it's unfair, unworkable and amounts to a tax on links, with no recognition of the traffic or "free marketing" the tech companies provide to news publishers.
Meta has previously said that the only way it can "reasonably comply with this legislation is to end news availability" for users in Canada.
Meta's conduct called 'anticompetitive'
"Meta's practices are clearly designed to discipline Canadian news companies, prevent them from participating in and accessing the advertising market, and significantly reduce their visibility to Canadians on social media channels," the CBC said in a joint statement with the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and News Media Canada,a trade organization that represents newspapers.
"Meta's anticompetitive conduct, which has attracted the attention of regulators around the world, will strengthen its already dominant position in advertising and social media distribution and harm Canadian journalism," the statement read.
"The applicants ask the Competition Bureau to use its investigative and prosecutorial tools to protect competition and prohibit Meta from continuing to block Canadians' access to news content."
Legacy media and broadcasters have praised Bill C-18, which promises to "enhance fairness" in the digital news marketplace and help bring more money intoshrinking newsrooms.
Tech companiesincluding Meta and Google have been blamed in the past for disrupting and dominating the advertising industry, eclipsing smaller, traditional players.
"Facebook ...would rather block their users from accessing good quality and local news instead of paying their fair share to news organizations," Canadian Heritage Minister PascaleSt-Onge said in a statement Tuesday.
"Google and Facebook earn 80 per centof all digital advertising revenue in Canada. Meanwhile, hundreds of newsrooms have closed. A free and independent press is fundamental to our democracy, and Canadians expect tech giants to follow the law in our country."
But a Meta spokesperson said C-18forced the company to make a business decision.
"The Online News Act is based on the incorrect premise that Meta benefits unfairly from news content shared on our platforms, when the reverse is true. News outlets voluntarily share content on Facebook and Instagram to expand their audiences and help their bottom line," they said in a statement.
"The only way we can reasonably comply with this legislation is to end news availability for people in Canada."
In an interview Tuesday, News Media Canada president and CEO Paul Deegansaid Meta is abusing its dominant position in the social media market, and is therefore violatingthe Competition Act.
Section 79 of the act prohibits abuse of a dominant marketposition.
"So we've, essentially, called the cops, meaning the Competition Bureau, and we've asked them to investigate," Deegan said.
"We fully expect that they'll come to the same conclusion that we have, that this is in contravention of Section 79 of the Competition Act, and that they will take appropriate action."
Deegan called onCanadian businesses and governments to halt advertising on Meta platforms to support Canadian media.
A spokesperson for the Competition Bureau said it has received the complaint, though the bureau had already begun a "preliminary review" of the matter.
"We must conduct a thorough and complete examination of the facts before reaching any conclusion as to whether the Competition Act has been contravened," said John Power.
Power said if the bureau finds that Meta has violatedthe Competition Act, the company could face a fine of up to $10 million orthree times the value of the benefit obtained from the anti-competitive conduct, whichever figure is greater.
CBC/Radio-Canada's corporate position is that the Online News Act will help level the playing field and contribute to a healthy news ecosystem in Canada "at a time when 80 per cent of digital ad revenue goes to Facebook and Google," spokesperson Leon Mar has previously said.
Complaint a 'great strategy'
Anabel Quan-Haase, a professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University, said the news organizationsfiling a complaint with the Competition Bureau is a "great strategy" and is "exactly what the Competition Act is all about."
"They are using really important legislation in a very strategic way to put additional pressure on the tech giants," she said.
Should the Competition Bureau decide an investigation is warranted,Quan-Haasesaid the federal government will get a detailed look at the dominance of tech giantswithin the Canadian social media market.
"What does this dominance exactly mean? What kind of revenue is being generated? How is this dominance affecting other players and potentially even pushing other players out of the Canadian market?" saidQuan-Haase.
While filing a complaint with the Competition Bureau is a "good option," Patrick White, a professor of journalism at theUniversity of Quebec in Montreal,said it will take awhile before seeing any results. He said if the bureau finds a need to investigate, it may not have a report ready for another year.
"It's one action among others," he said. "But Ithink this overall action has to be dealt with from the political level."
White said when the news blockage begins, he does not see it lasting more than two weeks before an agreement is reached between the tech giants and the Canadian government.
"Apolitical agreement could resolve everything on the longer term or mid-term, and that's what we want right now,not a short-term solution," he said.
With files from David Thurton
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