The legislation will “protect the future of our culture as Canadians,” said Pablo Rodriguez, Canada’s heritage minister, appointed last year by Mr. Trudeau to implement the rule changes. “This is simply about the digital platforms paying their fair share toward our culture.” The money, he added, would help increase the amount of French-language and indigenous-made programming in the country.
But Alphabet’s YouTube division, as well as TikTok and streaming companies such as Netflix, have objected to the proposal in a series of private meetings with Canadian officials, according to people with knowledge of the talks, and in testimony before parliamentary committees. Meta Platforms also threatened in October to block access to Canadian news content—like it did in Australia last year—should Canada compel digital platforms to pay media organizations for links to their stories. Canada is pursuing the payments for domestic media organizations through separate legislation.
In June, in a meeting in Los Angeles, Alphabet and Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai pressed Mr. Trudeau to reconsider the legislation because of its possible longer-term impacts, according to people familiar with the encounter. Google has previously argued smaller Canadian artists, some who have developed a global viewership, risk losing ad revenue because redesigned algorithms could lead to fewer views outside Canada as their material is directed to audiences that aren’t interested in the content. The platform and artist share ad revenue. Canada’s proposed changes “would require YouTube to manipulate our systems and surface content according to the government’s priorities, rather than the interests of Canadian users and creators,” Neal YouTube’s chief product officer, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, while in Ottawa to speak to government officials and lawmakers.
The proposed legislation leaves the task of defining content rules and enforcing them to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, the broadcast regulator.
The debate is being closely watched in other countries that are also considering regulatory changes to protect domestic interests after the world’s biggest digital companies have transformed how households watch programs and consume news.
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Canada Pushes Canadian Content, Irking Big Tech
Proposal would require platforms to rework algorithms to feature content from Canadian artists
Facebook owner Meta Platforms is one of the companies that would be affected by the proposal in Canada.
PHOTO: JOSH EDELSON/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
By Paul VieiraFollow
in Ottawa
in Toronto
Dec. 2, 2022 6:49 am ET
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Google parent Alphabet Inc., -0.44%decrease; red down pointing triangle Facebook META 2.53%increase; green up pointing triangle owner Meta Platforms Inc. and TikTok’s owner, are pushing back against a proposal in Canada that would force digital platforms to more prominently feature Canadian content and compensate news outlets.
The new rules, championed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, would require reworking existing algorithms so that if a person in Canada searched on YouTube, the results would display videos mostly from Canadian artists ahead of foreign or U.S.-made content.
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The proposed legislation would also obligate the digital-media companies to make annual Officials have estimated the payments could total roughly 1 billion Canadian dollars, or the equivalent of $750 million.
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The legislation will “protect the future of our culture as Canadians,” said Pablo Rodriguez, Canada’s heritage minister, appointed last year by Mr. Trudeau to implement the rule changes. “This is simply about the digital platforms paying their fair share toward our culture.” The money, he added, would help increase the amount of French-language and indigenous-made programming in the country.
But Alphabet’s YouTube division, as well as TikTok and streaming companies such as Netflix, have objected to the proposal in a series of private meetings with Canadian officials, according to people with knowledge of the talks, and in testimony before parliamentary committees. Meta Platforms also threatened in October to block access to Canadian news content—like it did in Australia last year—should Canada compel digital platforms to pay media organizations for links to their stories. Canada is pursuing the payments for domestic media organizations through separate legislation.
In June, in a meeting in Los Angeles, Alphabet and Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai pressed Mr. Trudeau to reconsider the legislation because of its possible longer-term impacts, according to people familiar with the encounter. Google has previously argued smaller Canadian artists, some who have developed a global viewership, risk losing ad revenue because redesigned algorithms could lead to fewer views outside Canada as their material is directed to audiences that aren’t interested in the content. The platform and artist share ad revenue.
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Mr. Trudeau was unmoved by Mr. Pichai’s entreaties, according to people familiar with the discussions. The Canadian leader met with Mr. Pichai at the Summit of the Americas, which President Biden hosted to address economic, climate and migration issues.
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said the plan would ‘protect the future of our culture as Canadians.’
PHOTO: DAVID /BLOOMBERG NEWS
Canada’s proposed changes “would require YouTube to manipulate our systems and surface content according to the government’s priorities, rather than the interests of Canadian users and creators,” Neal YouTube’s chief product officer, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, while in Ottawa to speak to government officials and lawmakers.
The proposed legislation leaves the task of defining content rules and enforcing them to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, the broadcast regulator.
The debate is being closely watched in other countries that are also considering regulatory changes to protect domestic interests after the world’s biggest digital companies have transformed how households watch programs and consume news.
Advertisement - Scroll to Continue
“I’m keen to see what the future developments in Canada will be,” said Claudia Roth, Germany’s minister of state for culture, following a meeting this year of cultural-policy officials from the Group of Seven countries. “I believe that we can learn a lot from that.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in white shirt, appearing at a Google facility in Kitchener, Ontario, in 2016.
PHOTO: NATHAN DENETTE/THE CANADIAN PRESS VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Biden administration warned Canada this week that the bills targeting online streaming and the sharing of online news content “discriminate against U.S. businesses,” according to a statement from U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, following a meeting with her Canadian counterpart. A spokeswoman for Canada’s trade minister said the legislation is consistent with the country’s trade obligations.
When he came to power in 2015, Mr. Trudeau, the prime minister, aggressively courted big digital companies to invest and create jobs in Canada, and feted the leadership at Google and Facebook for their positive impact on society.
“Canada is the right place to shape the future—a future where things like artificial intelligence and deep learning help create jobs, improve our quality of life, and generate new opportunities for the middle class and those who want to join it,” said Mr. Trudeau at a 2017 event regarding Facebook’s decision to open a lab in the Canadian leader’s hometown of Montreal.
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