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- Following a conversation on Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have agreed to coordinate their efforts in making tech giants pay for news
- Canada vowed last week to be the next country to make Facebook pay publishers for news content
- Canadian publishers have said an Australian approach to tech giants would allow media companies to recover C$620 million (roughly A$629 million) a year
- Without action, they said, Canada could lose 700 print journalism jobs out of a total 3100
- The collaboration comes as anti-trust investigators in France accuse Google of failing to comply with the state competition authority’s orders on how to conduct negotiations with news publishers
Following a conversation on Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have agreed to coordinate their efforts in making tech giants pay for news.
In addition to discussions about COVID-19, vaccination programs, the ongoing situation in Myanmar, and the broader Indo-Pacific region, the two leaders “noted the growing cooperation between Canada and Australia on the regulation of online platforms,” a statement from Trudeau’s office said.
“They agreed to continue coordinating efforts to address online harm and ensure the revenues of web giants are shared more fairly with creators and media,” it continued.
Canada vowed last week to be the next country to make Facebook pay publishers for news content, following Australia’s example in the crusade against the power of platforms like Facebook and Google.
Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault, in charge of crafting legislation to be unveiled in coming months, condemned Facebook’s decision to remove news from it Australian platform and said it would not deter Ottawa.
“Canada is at the forefront of this battle […] we are really among the first group of countries around the world that are doing this,” he said.
Last year, Canadian publishers warned of a potential market failure without government action, adding that the Australian approach would allow media companies to recover C$620 million (roughly A$629 million) a year. Without action, they said, Canada could lose 700 print journalism jobs out of a total 3100.
The collaboration comes as anti-trust investigators in France accuse Google of failing to comply with the state competition authority’s orders on how to conduct negotiations with news publishers over copyright.
Two sources said the 93-page report, known as a statement of objections, found exceptionally serious failures, which could result in a fine worth up to 10 per cent of the firm’s US$183 billion (roughly A$231 billion) in sales last year.
