The federal government released the draft regulations for the Online News Act late last week. The regulations will be open for a 30-day public consultation period.
The draft regulations provide some additional clarity on how the Online News Act, which received Royal Assent earlier this summer, will work to level the playing field between news publishers and tech platforms.
Based on available data, the Online News Act could result in Google having to pay news publishers $172 million per year. Facebook’s parent company Meta would be responsible for about $62 million to comply with the terms of the legislation.
The regulations also describe minimum thresholds tech platforms must achieve in order to receive any exemptions.
A new survey by Dentsu Media found that almost two-thirds of Canadians (64 per cent) are aware of Bill C-18, the Online News Act. More than half (58 per cent) said they are at least somewhat concerned about missing local news.
