Facebook’s refusal to send witnesses angers Heritage committee

Sir Nicholas Clegg’s reversal of an agreement to appear before the House of Commons Committee on Canadian Heritage upset members of that committee Monday. Clegg, president of global affairs for Meta Platforms Inc., had initially said he would show up to testify about Bill C-18, the Online News Act, but reneged when Meta was upset about the title of the hearing. MPs from all sides of the House spent the first half hour of the scheduled two-hour meeting debating a motion from New Democrat Peter Julian that would see Clegg invited to appear next week to discuss the Facebook parent’s problems with the legislation. “He was invited, he is not appearing, this would be a summons so that he would have an obligation to appear,” the British Columbia MP stated. Meta was angry that the session was titled “Tech Giants’ Current and Ongoing Use of Intimidation and Subversion Tactics to Evade Regulation in Canada and Across the World’. Kevin Chan, global policy director for the company, read Clegg’s statement into the record when he had his opportunity to make opening remarks. “The Online News Act is based on a fundamentally flawed premise,” Chan said, channeling Clegg. “Meta does not benefit unfairly from publishers sharing links to news content on our platform; the reverse is true.” It benefits publishers to upload their information on Facebook, he continued, while the platform derives little benefit from these actions. Such links make up less than three per cent of Facebook’s content, he added. He estimated media companies make $230 million from the arrangement. If C-18 passes in its present form, the company would have no choice but to abandon linking news stories in Canada. Chan pointed to the discussions being held in the Senate which is studying the act. Meta and Alphabet Inc.’s Google have voiced their displeasure with the bill before the Red Chamber. Clegg’s statement pointed out that Facebook and Google have different business models. While Google searches out links, most links on Facebook are posted by users. Publishers account for 90 per cent of the links, the remarks stated. Clegg, a former deputy prime minister in the United Kingdom, questioned where the funds appropriated from the tech giants would go. Rather than benefiting small publishers, he maintained that big media companies, especially broadcasters, would reap most of the money. “It’s Robin Hood in reverse,” Chan read into the record. Answering a question form Conservative MP Martin Shields, Chan stated that of the 18 contracts it has signed with publishers in Canada, some are with small outlets. He cited The Sprawl, a news organization in Calgary, as an example. “We’ve spent most of our time with small publishers,” he said. He added Facebook would be willing to sit down with the weekly papers in Shields’ Alberta riding. Under questioning from Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, Meta’s head of public policy for Canada, Rachel Curran, admitted that the tech firm had assembled a team that would oversee the removal of news links in this country if C-18 passes. Similar activities occurred in Australia when it introduced its online news legislation. “I can confirm that the way Australia unfolded was not ideal,” she said. “There were some technical errors made in the way that we removed news from our platform. We fully intend that those errors will not be made in the Canadian context and we’re preparing very carefully to ensure that’s not the case.” She conceded that emergency information was unwittingly deleted in Australia. She vowed that such data would not be affected by content blocking. The policy head, a onetime policy advisor to former Prime MInister Stephen Harper, also promised that government IP addresses would not be targeted in Canada as they were Down Under. Curran confirmed that Facebook has been meeting with Canadian legislators to discuss its concerns with the bill. Bloc Québécois MP Martin Champoux expressed dismay that he had not been lobbied by the company. Last year Meta stated it had not been consulted on bill C-18, an accusation which Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez dismissed as a lie. –Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

Facebook’s refusal to send witnesses angers Heritage committee

Broadcast | May 8, 2023

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Facebook’s refusal to send witnesses angers Heritage committee

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