Trudeau Calls Meta’s Opposition to Bill C-18 ‘Dangerous to Democracy’

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to reporters at the Liberal party convention in Ottawa on May 5, 2023. Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Meta’s opposition to Bill C-18 “dangerous” to Canada’s democracy and economy during a press conference on May 9.

Trudeau characterized the company’s reasoning for its opposition as journalism having “social value, but not really an economic value.”

“That argument that the internet giants are putting forward is not just flawed, it’s dangerous to our democracy and to our economy,” Trudeau said. “Putting aside the jobs and communities that are supported by local journalism, by professional journalists, understanding what’s going on in the world around us, is an essential service.”

Trudeau’s quoted reasoning didn’t make it clear that Meta representatives meant economic value to their company, rather than to the broader public.

Bill C-18, also known as the Online News Act, would require companies like Google and Meta to negotiate deals with Canadian media outlets and pay them for the content they link to on their websites and platforms. Bill C-18 passed in the House of Commons and is currently before the Senate.

Tech giants Google and Meta have said they plan to block access to Canadian news content on their platforms if Parliament passes Bill C-18.

“In order to comply, we have to either operate in a flawed and unfair regulatory environment, or we have to end the availability of news content in Canada. With a heavy heart, we choose the latter,” Kevin Chan, Meta’s global policy director, told the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on May 8.

On May 8, Meta’s head of public policy in Canada, Rachel Curran, told the committee, “If we are being asked to compensate these publishers for material that has no economic value to us, that’s where the problem is.”

Chan also told the committee that news makes up just 3 percent of the content users see in their Facebook and Instagram feeds, while Meta provided news outlets with worth more than $230 million in “free marketing” in the 12 months from April 2021 to 2022.

“Publishers choose to share their content because it benefits them to do so, whereas it isn’t particularly valuable to us at all,” he said.

Trudeau said the ability of journalists to challenge authorities in both democratic and non-democratic countries is a “fundamental” part of creating a “better and fairer society.”

“Rigorous, challenging, independent journalism is essential, and the fact that Facebook is still saying that it doesn’t want to pay journalists for the work they do, shows how deeply irresponsible and out of touch they are with how we need to ensure we’re protecting our democracies.”

His comments were part of a response to a question about the Liberal Party members on May 6 adopting a non-binding resolution, dubbed “combating disinformation,” that could force journalists to reveal their confidential sources. Trudeau said on May 9 that his government won’t be adopting the policy.