By Canadian Press

Online News Act could see Google, Meta pay combined $234 million to Canadian media

Sep 1, 2023 | 9:53 AM

OTTAWA — The federal government has put a price tag on how much it would like to see Google and Facebook spend under an act requiring the tech giants to compensate media for news articles.

Federal officials estimate Google would need to offer $172 million and Facebook $62 million in compensation to satisfy criteria they’re proposing be used to give exemptions under the Online News Act.

The criteria listed as part of a draft set of regulations would allow compensation provided by tech giants to be both monetary and non-monetary.

While the guidelines do not specify what non-monetary contributions would count, officials say training and advertising could wind up meeting the criteria.

The draft regulations laying out the implementation of the law are subject to public consultation.

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However, in anticipation of the regulations Meta has already stripped Canadian news from its Facebook and Instagram platforms, while Google has made similar threats they’ve yet to act on.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2023.

The Canadian Press