The Online News Act last June promised “fairness in the Canadian digital-news marketplace”. The idea, inspired by a similar law in Australia, was to force Google and Meta, the kings of search and social media, to pay news outlets when their articles appear in search results and social feeds. Publishers and broadcasters have long complained that the tech firms have gobbled up their advertising market. The act was meant to claw some of that money back. A law intended to help small publishers is harming them, what is next for Canadian publishers ?
