Munk Dialogue with Michael Geist
Munk Dialogue with Michael Geist
Why the Online News Act is a policy disaster
Amid years of decline in news ad revenue and a rapidly changing media landscape, the Canadian government introduced Bill C-18, the Online News Act. This controversial piece of legislation requires Google and Meta – the company behind Facebook and Instagram – to pay Canadian news outlets for linking their content to these social media sites. Meta responded by blocking all Canadian news content from Facebook and Instagram, while Google has recently agreed to pay $100 million to Canadian publishers, indexed for inflation.
Our guest on this Munk Dialogue is Michael Geist, one of the legislation’s fiercest critics. Michael is an expert in Canadian technology law and the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, and argues that far from helping Canadian news outlets, media organizations – unable to drive users from social media – will not only suffer from a loss of revenue, but they will become more reliant on government subsidies to stay afloat and thus become less objective in their reporting.
You may also like
March 7, 2025
– Listen
Munk Debates Podcast: Trump’s trade wars with Jared Bernstein and Oren Cass
March 18, 2025
– Listen
Munk Debates Podcast: Mahmoud Khalil, Democrats in disarray, and can tariffs actually benefit the working class?
April 3, 2025
– Listen
Munk Debates Podcast: Tension with Iran, Greenland annexation, and Chinese aggression against Taiwan
April 10, 2025
– Watch
Munk Debate on Trump’s America
April 16, 2025
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: how the Liberals are benefiting from the Canada-US trade war
April 22, 2025
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: The Conservative Party’s failure to provide a roadmap for change
April 30, 2025
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: key takeaways from Canada’s election results
May 15, 2025
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: The Crisis of Canadian Democracy
May 26, 2025
