The Trudeau government stated it's engaging in discussions with both Meta and Google regarding new legislation that could potentially result in blocking news from their platforms in Canada. However, Meta said it's not currently involved in any negotiations..“There are no negotiations currently,” Rachel Curran, head of public policy for Meta Canada, told CBC’s Power and Politics Tuesday evening.. Google .“The way the bill is drafted doesn’t allow for negotiations outside the framework of the legislation,” said Curran..Meta remains committed to its decision to restrict news content on its Facebook and Instagram platforms..“We are proceeding towards ending the availability of news permanently in Canada,” said Curran..“We wish we weren’t here, but we are here, and there is really nothing at this point that’s going to alter that trajectory.”.Last week, Bill C-18 the Online News Act was passed into law. .If Google and Meta were to remove news from their platforms, they would no longer be bound by this legislation. This legislation mandates Meta and Google establish commercial agreements with news publishers, sharing revenues for news content featured on their platforms..According to Curran, there is nothing further the Trudeau government can do to address the company's concerns now that the legislation has been passed..“It requires us to compensate these publishers for placing material on our platforms voluntarily because they get a tremendous amount of free marketing and distribution value from that,” said Curran..“The regulation-making process can’t alter the fundamental premise or the sort of underlying structure of the bill.”.Curran stated Meta's reconsideration would only be possible if the government amended the Online News Act or decided to repeal it..“It’s open to the government to do that… But that requires taking any amendments through Parliament,” said Curran. .“Perhaps they’d be willing to do that in the fall.”.Google, which has stated its intention to potentially remove news from Google Search and other platforms in Canada, is actively engaged in discussions with the Trudeau government..Laura Scaffidi, the spokesperson for Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, confirmed Tuesday evening neither Meta or Google “have obligations under the act until the regulatory process is complete.”.“These platforms are only successful because people use them. The fact that Facebook would rather spend money to change their platforms to block Canadians from getting news instead of paying their fair share to news organizations shows how deeply irresponsible and out of touch they are. Especially when they make billions of dollars off of Canadian users,” said Scaffidi in a statement..“Again, Facebook knows the minister’s door is open. They have his number.”
