this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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Do media aggregators have a duty to provide links to public news sources in emergencies? (www.cbc.ca)
submitted 1 year ago by StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website to c/canada@lemmy.ca
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The NWT government and city of Yellowknife are describing in tweets, Instagram messages etc. how to search key evacuation information on CPAC and CBC. The broadcast carriers have a duty to carry emergency information, but Meta and X are blocking links.

While internet access is reportedly limited in Yellowknife, residents are finding this a barrier to getting current and accurate information. Even links to CBC radio are blocked.

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[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 2 points 1 year ago (10 children)

The tax and the legislation is at least a half a year from coming into force, the regulatory framework to operationalize it hasn’t even been published for public consultation.

Meta has started blocking preemptively. This is a power play protest about avoiding being subject to other countries’ law. That’s it.

[–] festus@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago (9 children)

While I'm sure there are some messaging aspects to doing it early, it's worth pointing out that by January, unless the government repeals the law, Meta will be penalized for allowing links during emergencies. This specific law comes into operation regardless of whether the government has published any framework or not.

This is a power play protest about avoiding being subject to other countries’ law.

Meta is complying with this law. The idea behind the law was that Meta was stealing ad revenue from news organizations by linking to them, and that if they wanted to continue linking to them they needed to compensate news organizations. Meta has thus stopped 'stealing' the ad revenue. That's complying with the law. It did exactly what it was expected to do, in the same way that when you tax cigarettes you expect some people to cut back on smoking. Even better, Meta stopped 'stealing' before the law even came into force!

Seriously it's like there's nothing they can do to satisfy their critics - they get accused of stealing news so they stop it, and then they get accused of harming news sites by not stealing.

Which is it? Is Meta beneficial to news organizations or harmful to them? If harmful then there's no problem with Meta blocking news links. If beneficial, then maybe this is a dumb law that's akin to the government putting a tax on exercising.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Perhaps we’d do better to look at the text of Bill C-18.

You seem to be saying that the law itself has already laid out that Meta is who it applies to.

Instead, it says that a list needs to be established.

List of digital news intermediaries 8 (1) The Commission must maintain a list of digital news intermediaries in respect of which this Act applies. The list must set out each intermediary’s operator and contact information for that operator and specify whether an order made under subsection 11(1) or 12(1) applies in relation to the intermediary.

Meta clearly sees that the law is intended to apply to digital platforms with significant market power such as it has. But it has not yet been designated.

Timing - coming into force - you are correct that there is a hard deadline at end of year.

180 days after royal assent (6) Despite subsections (1) to (5), any provision of this Act that does not come into force by order before the 180th day following the day on which this Act receives royal assent comes into force 180 days after the day on which this Act receives royal assent.

Basically, you are justifying Meta’s actions on the basis that it recognizes that a law it doesn’t like will apply to it in future.

[–] festus@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

From the text (very end of the bill):

180 days after royal assent

(6) Despite subsections (1) to (5), any provision of this Act that does not come into force by order before the 180th day following the day on which this Act receives royal assent comes into force 180 days after the day on which this Act receives royal assent.

The bill received royal assent on June 22nd, 2023, which actually means this law takes effect in December at the latest.

EDIT - I think we were updating our messages at the same time as I added the above before yours was finished.

I think it's clear that Meta would be covered if it links to news given this section:

This Act applies in respect of a digital news intermediary if, having regard to the following factors, there is a significant bargaining power imbalance between its operator and news businesses:

(a) the size of the intermediary or the operator;

(b) whether the market for the intermediary gives the operator a strategic advantage over news businesses; and

(c ) whether the intermediary occupies a prominent market position.

7 (1) If this Act applies in respect of a digital news intermediary, its operator must so notify the Commission.

There's doesn't seem much room for Meta here - if they link to news they'll be covered by this law. The only possible escape might be in Section 11 where it allow the Governor in Council to write regulations that exempt organizations, and if the government is going to exempt Meta they might as well just repeal the law.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 2 points 1 year ago

Or Parliament may pass further legislation on accelerated calendar that will require Meta to carry links in declared emergencies much as cable companies and private broadcasters are now.

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