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Bill C-18 would force Google and Facebook parent Meta to share revenue with news publishers for their content

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Google discussed funding a lobbyist to represent a coalition of independent news publishers to help them push for changes to the Liberal governments Online News Act, the National Post has learned.

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Google and Facebook parent-company Meta, the companies targeted by the Liberals Bill C-18, the Online News Act, are opposed to the bill. The legislation would force them to share revenue with news publishers for making news content available through their platforms. Google has publicly criticized the bill.

The coalition of smaller publishers, which says it represents more than 100 independent outlets, has raised its own concerns about the act, which is supported by many large, mainstream news organizations, including Postmedia, publisher of the National Post. The coalition last week issued an open letter outlining its concerns with the legislation, proposing several changes to the bill, including a transparent, universal funding formula and for compensation to be based on metrics such as direct editorial expenditures or number of journalists employed.

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Independent publishers began discussing forming a coalition in response to Bill C-18 at the Google-hosted Newsgeist industry conference in Montreal last month, according to notes from that conversation circulated among coalition members.

It was at that same conference that the possibility of Google providing funding for a lobbyist for the group was discussed, the notes show.

Google has offered to fund a government relations consultant to help us have a voice at the table, the notes read. A majority of the group was in favour of accepting the funding at that first meeting, the notes indicate.

Googles offer to pay for a lobbyist was again discussed a few days later at a May 18 meeting of the coalition, where participants suggested approaching the independent-journalism advocacy group Press Forward to work with Google to hire a lobbyist and administer the funding. At least two participants expressed some doubts or opposition to accepting the money, according to the notes.

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A majority of Press Forward members are also affiliated with the independent publishers coalition.

Press Forward ultimately declined the idea of accepting lobbyist funding from Google. Some members of the coalition asked Press Forward if it was interested in considering funding from Google to pay for a lobbyist, Press Forward chair Mike De Souza explained in an email response to a National Post inquiry. The board of Press Forward discussed this and rejected this proposal.

The Liberal government is fast-tracking Bill C-18 through the House of Commons. Google has reached out to each MP individually to express its concerns over the bill, as reported by The Canadian Press last week.

The notes from the first meeting also state that Aaron Brindle, a former Google executive, had offered to advise the independent publishers on a government relations strategy. Brindle, who now heads public affairs for investment firm Radical Ventures, was previously head of public affairs for Google Canada.

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Brindle said in an email he has no formal role advising the coalition but noted that he is a former journalist and a close friend of one of the coalition members. I care deeply about the health of Canadas news ecosystem and support the coalitions calls for a more transparent and equitable version of Bill C-18. For this reason, I was happy to offer the coalition advice on how best to amplify their message.

The National Post contacted four members of the independent publishers coalition to ask about the Google funding proposal. In an emailed joint response from those four members, (and noting she was not speaking on behalf of other publishers or the coalition as a whole) Erin Millar, CEO of Discourse Media, said there was no formal offer from Google, but there was an informal discussion between two coalition members and Google about whether our coalition needed funding to support our efforts.

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Asked whether the group is still considering accepting funding from Google, Millar said the coalition is a group of independent publishers who are free to make their own decisions about how best to represent their voices in the ongoing debate surrounding C-18. So we cant speculate about whether some may still be considering working with Google or not.

Millar said, there is no current proposal being considered that we are aware of.

Google argues that by requiring digital platforms to compensate news publishers for linking to their content, the bill would violate critical principles of the internet. The ability to link freely between websites is fundamental to how the internet works, Google said in a blog post last month, which also argued the bill gives the CRTC too much power over the news industry and that C-18 could create a lower standard for journalism in Canada.

Google had some conversations about supporting smaller publishers efforts on the bill, according to the company, but there was no formal offer from Google to the coalition and the company isnt currently providing any support to the coalition.

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Originally posted here:
Google offered to fund lobbyist for small publishers unhappy with Liberals' online news bill - National Post