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Facebook and Instagram to restrict news access in Canada (www.bbc.com)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by kuontom@kbin.social to c/news@kbin.social

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Canada's Online News Act, which cleared the senate on Thursday, lays out rules requiring platforms like Meta and Google to negotiate commercial deals and pay news organisations for their content.

Google called the bill "unworkable" in its current form and said it was seeking to work with the government to find a "path forward".

Meta has called the law "fundamentally flawed legislation that ignores the realities of how our platforms work".

The Online News Act is expected to take effect in Canada in six months.

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[–] kuontom@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

digital news intermediary means an online communications platform, including a search engine or social media service

news content is made available if access to the news content, or any portion of it, is facilitated by any means, including an index, aggregation or ranking of news content

These points seem to indicate a website like kbin would fall under this act, being a content aggregator and social media service.

At the same time,

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:

the size of the intermediary or the operator
whether the market for the intermediary gives the operator a strategic advantage over news businesses
whether the intermediary occupies a prominent market position.

Since kbin is small and not in any market position, this shouldn't apply.