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

November 21, 2024
– Listen
Assassination of JFK Debate

December 3, 2024
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Dr. Raja Mohan

December 10, 2024
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Michael Weiss

December 18, 2024
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Stephen Moore

December 24, 2024
– Listen
Biden’s Legacy Debate

January 30, 2025
– Listen
Munk Debate Podcast: Elon Musk embraces the far-right and Trump ends DEI

January 10, 2025
– Listen
Munk Dialogue with Rudyard Griffiths and Ricki Gurwitz: the Munk Debates in 2025

February 12, 2025