EXPERT ADVISORY: July 6 2023 – R0055
With yesterday’s announcement the federal government is suspending its advertising on Facebook and Instagram, a Brock University digital media expert is urging Canadians to watch the developing situation closely.
The move, which saw the province of Quebec and city of Montreal follow suit within hours, comes on the heels of digital giants Google and Meta banning Canadian news content from their platforms in response to the Online News Act (Bill C-18).
Bill C-18 became law on June 22 and requires companies like Google and Facebook to pay for Canadian news content posted to their sites.
Aaron Mauro, Associate Professor and Chair of Brock’s Department of Digital Humanities,
says it is “important for Canadian federal and provincial governments to enforce the principles of this legislation with common sense actions like the advertising suspension announced July 5.”
With expertise in digital media, U.S. literature and culture and cybersecurity, Mauro says that as the situation develops, corporate influence, regulating digital media and protecting Canadian news will be an important part of the conversation — and each has the potential to have a significant impact in the digital age.
While it is no secret that these large American corporations are using Canadian content on their platforms, Mauro says the relationship is often presented as mutually beneficial because Facebook or Google can populate their web pages with free content while Canadian news sites benefit from greater traffic, resulting in higher revenue.
But, he says, the system is not serving Canadian news organizations in the long term. With Bill C-18, the Canadian government is enforcing a system where local and national news will share in a larger portion of profit largely received by these U.S. companies.
“Simply put, Alphabet/Google and Meta/Facebook are using their market positions to pressure Canadian regulators to favour their interests at the expense of domestic news organizations,” Mauro says.
He also draws attention to the fact that Canadian news is often taxpayer funded, whether directly or through tax incentives, with the new government regulation serving to protect taxpayer investment in local and regional news.
“In my opinion, high quality journalism is critical to the functioning of our democracy, so these actions by Google and Facebook can be regarded as anti-democratic,” Mauro says. “It may be time to have a conversation about building a Canadian-owned social media platform comprised of a consortium of news organizations, citizen groups and government regulators.”
Monitoring similar initiatives in other countries, Mauro notes the growing precedent for domestic disruption of global corporate influence in social media. The European Union (EU), for instance, is launching its own platforms, EU Voice and EU Video, which were announced last year.
Mauro is also part of a Brock research team identifying and evaluating the impacts of social media and how algorithmic bias is shaping young people’s engagements with political and social issues.
Aaron Mauro, Associate Professor and Chair of Brock’s Department of Digital Humanities, is available for media interviews on the topic.
For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:
* Doug Hunt, Communications and Media Relations Specialist, Brock University dhunt2@brocku.ca or 905-941-6209
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