Canada’s four largest telecommunications and media conglomerates — Bell, Rogers, Shaw Communications, and Quebecor — stand to get a combined payout of between $55-120 million from Google and Meta if Bill C-18 passes into law, according to one researcher.
Dwayne Winseck (@mediamorphis), Professor of Communications and Media Industries at Carleton University and Director of the Canadian Media Concentration Research Project, estimates that Bill C-18 could generate a total of $150-329 million in compensation for Canadian news publications once it passes.
Bill C-18, also known as the Online News Act, was proposed last year to force internet giants like Google and Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta Platforms, to pay Canadian news media and journalists for linking to their content.
In a series of recent tweets, Winseck shared his estimates of which news companies would get how much of the proceeds from Bill C-18.
I tried to est. who will get how much of the est'd $150-329 million to be generated by payments from Google & Meta to news business in Canada once #C18, the Online News Act, kicks in. The results should be treated w/ caution, but I think they get us in the ballpark. #CHPC 1/ pic.twitter.com/rXwtxVveDx
— Dwayne Winseck (@mediamorphis) March 14, 2023
Per the researcher, Bell will likely benefit the most from Bill C-18’s implementation, with an estimated payout of $23-51 million or 15.6% of the total funds. Postmedia, Bell, Shaw, and Quebecor will together make between $60-130 million, or an estimated 40% of the grand total of $150-329 million.
Furthermore, about two-thirds of the total compensation from Bill C-18 will go to the top 10 media companies in the country, Winseck said.
The researcher cautioned that his figures are an “estimate piled on top of estimate,” and so might not be entirely accurate because of missing data, but could “get us in the ballpark.” In addition, he noted that there could be a “big difference” in his estimates and how much money the Act will actually force Google and Meta to pay.
Meta might not end up paying Canadian news outlets anything at all, given that the company announced last week that it will block all news content across Facebook and Instagram in Canada if the legislation passes. Google, meanwhile, is already testing a “potential product response” to Bill C-18 by blocking news content for some Canadian users.
Winseck pointed out that even after Bill C-18 passes, we may never get to know exactly which companies get what amount of money. “The Act’s weak info disclosure obligations means that we will never know for sure who gets what.”
In any case, however, Winseck said that “the biggest players will be the biggest winners.” Bill C-18 is currently making its way through the Senate, after passing in the House of Commons in December. The legislation could pass through Parliament by summer.
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I don’t get this at all. CTV News signed up for a Facebook account to get more exposure to the public, they did this a decade and a half ago, if anything they should be paying Facebook to be allowed on their platform, not Facebook having to pay CTV news… seriously, what am I missing here?
FB gets ad rev’s from CTV’s presence there. Bill C-18 will ensure that some of these ad rev’s will be split between them. Similar to iPhone App Store’s 2/3-1/3 revenue split. Just because FB created a dominant online social platform does not mean that they, along with google and amazon should get 64% of total online ad revenues. It is to protect smaller news outlets from having their work bought out from them dirt cheap just to access one of these three dominant online platforms.
FB gets ad rev’s from CTV’s presence there. Bill C-18 will ensure that some of these ad rev’s will be split between them. Similar to iPhone App Store’s 2/3-1/3 revenue split. Just because FB created a dominant online social platform does not mean that they, along with google and amazon should get 64% of total online ad revenues. It is to protect smaller news outlets from having their work bought out from them dirt cheap just to access one of these three dominant online platforms.
Is facebook cutting off its nose to spike its face!
If you use others work, pay for it.