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Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law

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Re: Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law

#261

Post by jeffbee »

moffkalast wrote: post #260
jeffbee wrote: post #238

Most Canadian media is owned by asset-stripping American private equity firms, just like American newspapers. They just want to get paid, and have figured out a particular way that Canadian, Australian, German, and Californian legislators can be duped into it.

I don't see how this gets them paid, more like wiped from the internet entirely?

Well, their fantasy wishlist is that Google and Meta are forced to index their junk, rank it at the top, feature it prominently, present it to any and all visitors, and pay for both the cost and the privilege.

Re: Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law

#262

Post by pavon »

randcraw wrote: post #37
anderspitman wrote: post #33

The web may never be better than it was about 5 years ago, and that makes me very sad

Make that 25 years ago, before the FAANGs came out.

I wouldn't consider 1998 a peak. There was a local maxima in 1993, before the September that never ended. Then the rest of the 90's were exciting because of the rapid growth, but the actual state of things at the time was pretty messy. I'd personally put the next peak around 2007. Broadband was widespread but smartphones were not. Google existed but hadn't yet purchased DoubleClick. IE6, while not quite dead, no longer had a stranglehold on web development. Independent blogs and forums and RSS were still big, and hadn't yet consolidated with social media.

Re: Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law

#263

Post by tradewinds »

cpncrunch wrote: post #200
tradewinds wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even within the search results, there will be ads. If you search "what happened in Canada today", Google will link some news and there will likely be a sponsored link or some form of income-generating item for Google. Then there's the data you're generating as you use Google to navigate to the content you want, which can also be sold. Google connects you to content, every dollar they make is dependent on a non-Google…

I just tried, and didnt see any ads on news searches on canada news, or other news searches. Do you see any?

I do on YouTube before videos from CBC News. I actually don't on Google search results, but the search data you generate in the process of connecting with news sites can be used for a multitude of profitable uses-cases, including selling targeted ads elsewhere on the internet.

Re: Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law

#264

Post by cornholio »

devsda wrote: post #204
paddw wrote: post #36

Many people who would otherwise be appalled at laws like this seem to want to rationalize this because its specifically targeting Google and Meta. Sometimes taking the simple view is correct: It's a bad thing to prevent sites from linking to one another. It's a bad thing to interfere with the ability to access information on the Internet for reasons of nationalist politics.

I don't see how we can call this nationalistic politics. I'm sure if a (hypothetical) Canadian big-tech impacted news organizations similarly, they would also have been a target of this law. Many of the biggest tech have origins in US and any country trying to make a law regulating businesses and technology within its borders is bound to impact American companies one way or the other. We can take the easy route and c…

Nobody denies its their right, but that doesn't mean it's not a very stupid action, motivated by dumb nationalism. You can't handwave circumstances away, as if the legislators don't know it is a cashgrab against foreign corporations and genuinely believe Google and Facebook are Canadian companies.

Re: Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law

#265

Post by adjav »

quitit wrote: post #76
ortusdux wrote: post #28

They went to great lengths to no mention Meta. Bill C-18 changes the rules for linking by requiring two companies, including Google, to pay Canadian news publishers simply for linking to their sites.

Although I disagree with this kind of law: Was it just linking? Or was it providing a useful summary that essentially renders no need to click the provided link? + the link Otherwise I can see why Google and Meta got the law, while Reddit, Apple news and others don't.

Reddit and Apple News will have the law applied to them as well, since the law doesn't include a list of sites affected, just the criteria under which affected sites fall.

Re: Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law

#266

Post by [deleted] »

tradewinds wrote: post #168
phailhaus wrote: post #105

So these news orgs are getting free advertising, and they want to be paid on top?

It's not really advertising when the user is specifically searching for news content. That's like saying the halibut fisherman is getting free advertising when you go to a restaurant and ask to see the menu.

[deleted]

Re: Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law

#267

Post by [deleted] »

moffkalast wrote: post #260
jeffbee wrote: post #238

Most Canadian media is owned by asset-stripping American private equity firms, just like American newspapers. They just want to get paid, and have figured out a particular way that Canadian, Australian, German, and Californian legislators can be duped into it.

I don't see how this gets them paid, more like wiped from the internet entirely?

[deleted]

Re: Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law

#268

Post by jxf »

objektif wrote: post #243
jeffbee wrote: post #238

Most Canadian media is owned by asset-stripping American private equity firms, just like American newspapers. They just want to get paid, and have figured out a particular way that Canadian, Australian, German, and Californian legislators can be duped into it.

Yeah Google never ever does this. They do not want money they just work for kisses and they are not evil at all.

The issue isn't companies doing it as much as it is state-enforced regulatory capture that prefers specific companies over others.

Re: Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law

#269

Post by belval »

peanuty1 wrote: post #183
morkalork wrote: post #163

Media in Canada is in pretty dire straits right now. It looks like one of the last left-ish leaning papers (Toronto Star) is about to be gobbled up by post media. A huge swath of broadcast news media is owned by just one company, Bell which predictably leads to stories like "Top Bell Media executive urged CTV to avoid ‘negative spin’ on coverage of parent company". Plus the current batch of conservative leaders (PP,…

Important to note that the CBC is state-funded and even the previous leader of the ultra left-wing party, Tom Mulcair, has recently accused the CBC of having a heavy left-wing bias.

I don't know about heavy but CBC is definitely left-leaning. I feel like that should be curbed with some watchdog for media impartiality (not sure how it could be implemented?) instead of doing away with it entirely. The reality is (at least in Quebec), we don't have much to replace it.

This is also a new development in journalism at CBC, older journalists tend to value reporting over opinion pieces, whereas younger journalists feel like it's their "duty" to push their opinion onto the readership which is an extremely toxic ideology.

Re: Bill C-18: Google to remove news links in Canada over online news law

#270

Post by phailhaus »

tradewinds wrote: post #168
phailhaus wrote: post #105

So these news orgs are getting free advertising, and they want to be paid on top?

It's not really advertising when the user is specifically searching for news content. That's like saying the halibut fisherman is getting free advertising when you go to a restaurant and ask to see the menu.

That's not a good analogy because news sites don't sell their articles to Google, they get paid when users visit their sites. Google is promoting their websites and actively directing users to them, for free. Do I need to pay NYT when I recommend an article to my friends?
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