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Should the federal government back down and rescind Bill C-18?

1 in 2 Canadians say Yes.

According to a study by the Angus Reid Institute, 1 in 2 Canadians (48%) believe the federal government should back down and rescind Bill C-18.

The study found that just 26% of Canadians disagree that the bill should be rescinded.

Those most in favour of the government rescinding Bill C-18 are in Alberta (63%) and Saskatchewan (62%), while those least in favour are in Quebec (28%).

“On June 22, Canada’s Bill C-18 became law. It requires the ‘Big Tech’ companies to compensate Canadian news organizations for the content that appears on sites such as Google, Instagram and Facebook. Both Meta and Google said they would block Canadian news content from their websites once the law comes into effect, following through on a warning the companies issued as the bill was being discussed.”

“Development of Canada’s Bill C-18 follows Australia’s own journey to force Google and Meta to pay for that country’s news content. In 2021, the Australian government passed a law that required Google and Facebook to compensate Australian news organizations for content that appears on their platforms. Google and Meta opposed the move in that country, initially blocking news from their platforms in protest. The two companies eventually relented, however, and now Australia is touting the legislation as a success, as more than 30 deals have been signed between Google and Meta and Australia media outlets.”

Should the federal government back down and rescind Bill C-18?

The study also found that there is concern among Canadians that smaller media publishers will suffer the most from the fallout of Bill C-18.

“Though Meta and Google’s response to Bill C-18 will affect all media publishers in Canada, there is concern that smaller publishers could suffer more as they previously relied on social media to build an audience. Two-thirds (66%) of Canadians believe smaller media companies will suffer the most from Bill C-18. Few (11%) disagree.”

The Angus Reid Institute conducted an online survey from July 4-6, 2023 among a representative randomized sample of 1,610 Canadian adults who are members of the Angus Reid Forum.


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