The head of Facebook Canada says it will try to avoid a repeat of the news blackout imposed in Australia as long as upcoming legislation doesn’t force it to dim the lights of democracy.
“It’s never something we would ever want to do if we really don’t have a choice,” Kevin Chan said Monday before a parliamentary committee hearing.
Facebook last month blocked all messages on its platform in Australia for five days in response to legislative proposals requiring digital giants to pay older media to be linked to their work.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Australian counterpart agreed to continue “coordinating efforts” to ensure Big Tech’s revenues are more fairly shared with creators and media after Facebook signed a deal with the Australian government on a revised bill, which is still the fork of the tech titans calling for cash for linked content.
The stalemate down under highlighted the massive clout of Facebook – despite the resulting PR catastrophe – as well as broader questions about changes in the media’s business models and the type of information consumption.
Ottawa is working on a tripartite response to the past challenges social media platforms and other online content providers pose to media funding, regulation and monitoring in Canada.
Part of that solution is a bill currently being submitted to the House of Commons to modernize the broadcasting regime so that internet steaming sites like Netflix and Spotify could be forced to make Canadian content more discoverable and provide financial contributions in support of Canadian creators and To collect producers.
Online hate is at the center of the second focus as global observers continue to question Facebook’s role in tragedies ranging from the Christchurch Mosque shootings in New Zealand to deadly military violence against the Rohingya minority in Myanmar to racist ones Posts in Canada are enough.
The third point looks at how large internet companies are taxed – Australia being one possible model – and how traditional media companies are financially supported.
Facebook is helping already struggling old news companies by directing traffic to their websites, Chan said, arguing that awkward regulation would hinder a free and open internet.
He pointed to Ontario-based Village Media, whose CEO estimates Facebook and Google generated 24 million page views for the online community news company in January, representing $ 480,000 in ad revenue. Facebook Canada has also announced $ 18 million investments in sustainable media models over a six-year period.
Even if Facebook stifled access to the news, the platform doesn’t currently act as an essential source of information for most Canadians, Chan said. He cited a study by the Ryerson Leadership Lab that found that roughly a quarter of the population gets their news from Facebook, from several other sources, including television, which topped the list but through newspapers and magazines.
“It’s not that Facebook is somehow synonymous with the Internet or somehow synonymous with access to news,” he said.
Critics argue that paying publishers for links they or their readers post on social media is backwards – practically a form of advertising. If anything, news outlets should pay Facebook for the privilege of running de facto ads on its platform.
In a statement to the Canadian press, Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault said the government was in consultation with France and Australia on “market imbalances between news media organizations and those who benefit from their work”.
“Messages aren’t free and never have been. Our position is clear: publishers must be properly compensated for their work, and we will help them provide vital information for the benefit of our democracy and the health and well-being of our communities, ”he said.
In Australia, Facebook made concessions under an agreement with the government that allows more room for private deals between Facebook and media companies – like Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp – and an additional round of negotiations with publishers before binding arbitration begins.
However, settling that cloud of dust did little to allay concerns about the power and motivations of big tech.
“People are increasingly concerned about the power of web giants and the aftermath of the spread of hate speech online, the impact of unfair competition from these giants on the local media, and the utter lack of justice when people work hard to get their fair share Pay and multinational web companies are doing everything possible to bypass the rules, ”said New Democrat MP Heather McPherson.
She accused the Liberal government of having a “cozy relationship” with digital giants that protect the platforms’ profits at the expense of local media and Canadian taxpayers.
The government hopes to propose fair compensation laws this year, Guilbeault said.
It also aims to come up with a draft online hate speech bill within a few weeks that will create a regulator to enforce an updated definition of hate and ensure illegal content is posted within 24 hours, subject to severe penalties. which, according to Chan, are supported by Facebook.
“If we don’t have the right systems in place to enforce our standards in good faith, we should definitely be punished and held accountable,” he said.
Lawmakers on Monday also raised concerns about disinformation about COVID-19 vaccines as Canadians increasingly rely on digital communications to stay informed during a pandemic. According to Chan, the company is trying to address this issue while respecting freedom of expression.
“The challenge is to strike a balance between people’s ability to speak their minds and share their own feelings and ideas … and also to prevent harmful misinformation about the vaccine from spreading,” Chan said.
Facebook has 35,000 moderators who review content around the world for misinformation and hate speech, among other things, he said.
Current Criminal Code provisions prohibiting hate speech may appear increasingly weaker given the daily deluge of content being washed online.
“Bigot talk is always out there,” Windsor University law professor Richard Moon said in an interview. “But the rise of social media as the main platforms for personal and public engagement has helped make hateful views of various kinds more mainstream.”
Moon pointed out algorithms on sites like Google’s YouTube that can trigger inflammatory posts.
“To try to keep the viewer’s attention, they make suggestions for videos that are getting more and more extreme because often people are always more engaging and that gets their attention,” he said.
Mohammed Hashim, executive director of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, says one reason it has been so difficult to contain hatred online is a lack of government “guidance.”
“The damage it does not only to the victims, but also to our sense of common decency as Canadians, undermines our confidence in democracy,” he said in an interview.
“And it all happens because social media platforms have allowed marginal voices to take control.”
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