PM says Canada, Australia to work together on content compensation

Efforts between two countries go back to 2019

Canada and Australia will co-ordinate their respective efforts to force Big Tech to compensate news outlets for content and take action on online hate speech, the Prime Minister's Office said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison Monday about the issue, though access to information documents show efforts between the two countries to co-operate on policies toward digital platforms go back to at least 2019.

“The prime ministers noted the growing cooperation between Canada and Australia on the regulation of online platforms. 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,” a statement issued Tuesday read.

Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault has promised to introduce legislation this year to tackle both online hate and compensation from companies like Google and Facebook for news outlets, with the hate speech bill promised to arrive within weeks and the news compensation bill later this year.

Australia had proposed imposing a collective bargaining framework that would force Google and Facebook to come to an agreement with the publishers on a flat rate. Google and Facebook have been fighting with the Australian government over its proposal, threatening to pull some services from the Australian market if the bill becomes law.

In recent weeks, Google has been announcing deals with Australian publishers through its News Showcase program, while Facebook took a different tack and blocked news content from Australia from its products.

Facebook then reached a deal with the Australian government Tuesday, which will see it restore news on its platforms.

News publishers have been supportive of Canada adopting the Australian model in its upcoming legislation. Guilbeault told the National Post in an interview earlier this month that Canada can't simply copy the Australian model because the regulatory systems here are different.

“No matter how appealing the French to some or the Australian to others models may seem, we have our own sets of laws, regulations, institutions, practices that are different, so we can't just import a model,” he said.

Guilbeault noted the Australian system is based on a regulator that doesn't exist in Canada.

Canada and Australia have been co-ordinating on digital issues since at least 2019, when Heritage department officials visited Australia to talk about topics including support for journalism and online disinformation, documents obtained through access to information show.

In August 2019, Canadian Heritage deputy minister Hélène Laurendeau and two other departmental officials visited Australia for bilateral meetings with their counterparts in those countries. Those two officials then visited New Zealand for similar meetings.

“Canada and Australia share many of the same values and face similar challenges as both countries adapt our legislative frameworks, policies and programs for the digital reality,” a Heritage report obtained through access to information reads.

The visit was focused on issues including the future of media and broadcasting and diversity of content in a digital age, it said.

Canadian Heritage's “key objective in engaging with Australia is to explore potential areas of policy alignment and to test ideas given that both countries face similar challenges in their media sectors and share similar values, including democracy, freedom of expression and a free and open internet,” a section of the report outlining a meeting Laurendeau attended in Australia reads.

The report indicates that the Canadian government was already embarking on a strategy to team up with other countries to put pressure on large digital platforms in 2019.

“Partnerships with Australia, and a similar one that PCH has been pursuing with the European Union, are increasingly important as government engage with the global digital platforms. These companies are being engaged by multiple governments on multiple fronts and face significant capacity challenges in effectively responding to the public policy issues linked to their business models,” the report said.

“By jointly articulating and aligning an approach to engaging with global media companies, the goal is to incent these companies be more responsive and to ensure that the framing of the public policy issues is done consistent with Canadian and Australian values.”

Daniel Bernhard, executive director at advocacy group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, said in an emailed statement Tuesday Canada should be inspired by Australia's tenacity on the issue of news compensation.

“What makes Australia so exceptional is that they followed through despite bullying and threats from both Google and Facebook. The brilliance is in their resolve. If the Canadian government wants to earn a similar reputation, they too must follow through and follow through quickly,” Bernhard said.

But, he said, Canada shouldn't hold off on enacting its own legislation.

“Waiting for alignment is like waiting for Godot. We (Canada) can act now and harmonize later if need be,” he said.

PETER J THOMPSON / NATIONAL POST Canada is looking to co-ordinate efforts with Australia to force Big Tech to pay news outlets for content, the Prime Minister's Office reported on Tuesday.