The Canadian media sector is facing an imminent crisis.
Thanks in large part to the market dominance of the digital ad economy by foreign tech giants like Meta and Google, shuttered news outlets and massive job losses have become routine right across the country. Bill C-18, the Online News Act, was meant to finally compel tech giants such as Google and Meta to fairly compensate Canadian media for their news content.
But these foreign tech giants think they are above the law.
Earlier this year, Meta made good on their threat to black out Canadians’ access to news on all of their platforms, effectively censoring Canadian journalists in their attempt to subvert this commonsense legislation. Now, Google is threatening to do the same, unless significant changes are made to the law.
At FRIENDS, we have been calling out these intimidation tactics from the beginning. We won’t stop now.
In the fight to protect Canadian voices in Canadian media, FRIENDS is in it for the long haul.
Stand with us today and show your support for Canadian news! We’ll keep you up to date on our advocacy efforts and let you know how you can get involved.