Google parent
Alphabet Inc.,
owner Meta Platforms Inc. and Bytedance Ltd., TikTok’s owner, are pushing back against a proposal in Canada that would force digital platforms to more prominently feature Canadian content and compensate news outlets.
The new rules, championed by Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau,
would require reworking existing algorithms so that if a person in Canada searched on YouTube, the results would display videos mostly from Canadian artists ahead of foreign or U.S.-made content.
The proposed legislation would also obligate the digital-media companies to make annual payments for Canada’s artistic community. Officials have estimated the payments could total roughly 1 billion Canadian dollars, or the equivalent of $750 million.
The legislation will “protect the future of our culture as Canadians,” said Pablo Rodriguez, Canada’s heritage minister, appointed last year by Mr. Trudeau to implement the rule changes. “This is simply about the digital platforms paying their fair share toward our culture.” The money, he added, would help increase the amount of French-language and indigenous-made programming in the country.
But Alphabet’s YouTube division, as well as TikTok and streaming companies such as Netflix, have objected to the proposal in a series of private meetings with Canadian officials, according to people with knowledge of the talks, and in testimony before parliamentary committees. Meta Platforms also threatened in October to block access to Canadian news content—like it did in Australia last year—should Canada compel digital platforms to pay media organizations for links to their stories. Canada is pursuing the payments for domestic media organizations through separate legislation.
In June, in a meeting in Los Angeles, Alphabet and Google Chief Executive
…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at WSJ.com: World News…