This action/article is for PR purposes, nothing more.
CBC’s lawyers already know that Meta’s approach to compliance with Bill C-18 does not violate the Competition Act. They also know that the Competition Bureau does not have the power to compel this change in business practice, largely because the same owners of Canada’s media conglomerates (and other small-pond corporations like Weston, etc.) have lobbied governments for decades to render the Bureau powerless.
Here is the Competition Bureau’s actual powers. All they can do is request (not demand/compel) compliance from Meta for the purpose of gathering information, which they turn over to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada for consideration. However, Meta has removed links to Canadian news sites from its private platforms in order to comply with the impending legislation. There’s no case for prosecution here, in other words.
This action/article is for PR purposes, nothing more.
CBC’s lawyers already know that Meta’s approach to compliance with Bill C-18 does not violate the Competition Act. They also know that the Competition Bureau does not have the power to compel this change in business practice, largely because the same owners of Canada’s media conglomerates (and other small-pond corporations like Weston, etc.) have lobbied governments for decades to render the Bureau powerless.
Here is the Competition Bureau’s actual powers. All they can do is request (not demand/compel) compliance from Meta for the purpose of gathering information, which they turn over to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada for consideration. However, Meta has removed links to Canadian news sites from its private platforms in order to comply with the impending legislation. There’s no case for prosecution here, in other words.
Furthermore, not only do Canadians distrust our news media, but we’re also increasingly not reading news on social media. The only beneficiaries of Bill C-18 are legacy media companies accustomed to the Canadian government bailing them out. Remember the $600m taxpayer-funded bailout in 2019, which media companies like CBC, Postmedia, etc. have already squandered? Remember when the Competition Bureau allowed American hedge funds to purchase Postmedia, load it with debt, and then gut its newsroom and fire journalists to continue delivering quarterly returns? If the Competition Bureau does not regard these practices and similar examples across the country’s media landscape as harmful to Canadian media, then nothing is sacred.
CBC, Postmedia, etc. only have themselves to blame for this mess.