Deeply shameful, as a Canadian. I did not ask for this.
Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law
41–50 of 503 posts
Re: Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law
#42Surely news publications benefit more from Google/Facebook providing links to their content? It's a mutually beneficial relationship. I'm a bit puzzled as to why this was pushed, I'd love some context for this.
Surely news publications benefit more from Google/Facebook providing links to their content? Actually, no. It might be a symbiotic relationship for a small-time blog, but for a major news organization, it isn't. The Toronto Star and Global TV don't need freepub from Google. One example among many: Most people see the headline – the headline written by a paid headline writer based on an article from a paid journalist…
This is the most ridiculous take on this that I've ever seen. Next you're going to say that newspaper stands need to pay a charge to the newspaper each time someone walks by their stall (or buys gum, for example). They have seen the headline, and then moved on.
Very often a headline is all someone needs or wants. That has value. Without anyone buying that newspaper, the newspaper stand has got value from the headline, and contributed nothing to the newspaper publisher in return.
The reality is that headlines are advertisements for articles. That's why there are headline writers in the first place. Make a better advertisement, get more sales.
In the case of Google, publishing links with headlines means publishing free ads for that website. The website most certainly benefits from that relationship, if they didn't, they would just use robots.txt to block Google indexing their website, which someone has always been free to do.
The real problem is that newspapers would just like to take a percentage of Google revenue, because they're a big company.
Re: Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law
#43The web may never be better than it was about 5 years ago, and that makes me very sad
Totally disagree, LLMs are so much better than search engines ever were.
Re: Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law
#44Surely news publications benefit more from Google/Facebook providing links to their content? It's a mutually beneficial relationship. I'm a bit puzzled as to why this was pushed, I'd love some context for this.
Surely news publications benefit more from Google/Facebook providing links to their content? Actually, no. It might be a symbiotic relationship for a small-time blog, but for a major news organization, it isn't. The Toronto Star and Global TV don't need freepub from Google. One example among many: Most people see the headline – the headline written by a paid headline writer based on an article from a paid journalist…
Do you remember actual newsstands?
Re: Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law
#45Re: Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law
#46Surely news publications benefit more from Google/Facebook providing links to their content? It's a mutually beneficial relationship. I'm a bit puzzled as to why this was pushed, I'd love some context for this.
Canadian media has always enjoyed some protectionism from the government. It's old, entrenched players wanting, and getting, something for nothing. The people that control our media and telecommunications in Canada could fit in a compact car. This doesn't have anything to do with the average person. It's all business and lobbying.
Re: Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law
#47Re: Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law
#48Surely news publications benefit more from Google/Facebook providing links to their content? It's a mutually beneficial relationship. I'm a bit puzzled as to why this was pushed, I'd love some context for this.
Surely news publications benefit more from Google/Facebook providing links to their content? Actually, no. It might be a symbiotic relationship for a small-time blog, but for a major news organization, it isn't. The Toronto Star and Global TV don't need freepub from Google. One example among many: Most people see the headline – the headline written by a paid headline writer based on an article from a paid journalist…
Well then, maybe the law should be a headline tax rather than a link tax. As currently written, Google/Facebook would be free to continue providing headlines that don't link to the sources.
Re: Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law
#49As a Canadian, I don't really care about this. The informed citizen model is already broken by censorship, cancel culture, corporate influence, paywalls, monopolies and a soon to be flood of AI content. Burn it all down imo and let something else take its place. I only use google news now to see what agenda/narrative is being pushed at the moment or maybe to check the weather.
Re: Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Surely news publications benefit more from Google/Facebook providing links to their content? Actually, no. It might be a symbiotic relationship for a small-time blog, but for a major news organization, it isn't. The Toronto Star and Global TV don't need freepub from Google. One example among many: Most people see the headline – the headline written by a paid headline writer based on an article from a paid journalist…
Do you remember actual newsstands?
Do you remember actual newsstands?
I do. I remember when the newspaper was 10¢.
The guy working the stand didn't let you stand in front of it and read all the headlines in every page of every newspaper and magazine for free.
"I'm only reading the headlines" would get you a slap upside the head.