An escalating tug of war between the Liberal government and Big Tech – with Canadian news content in the middle – is heating up an already hot summer in Canada.
New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds Canadians aligned in principle with the concept of going after so-called “Big Tech” to “pay their fair share”, something touted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in recent weeks. But many are concerned about the consequences of the Liberal government’s proposed solution, the Online News Act, which seeks to force Meta (Facebook), Alphabet (Google), and others, to spend millions to access and share Canadian content.
Three-in-five Canadians (61%) say Big Tech should compensate Canadian organizations when their content is shared, given that those platforms benefit from vast advertising dollars that may have gone to the original creators, but are increasingly concentrated in the hands of tech companies.
That said, more than three-in-five (63%) are also concerned about losing access to Canadian news on Facebook and Google.
This in turn has half (48%) of Canadians directing the federal government to “back down” in its battle with Big Tech, while one-quarter say Ottawa should stand firm (26%) and the same number (25%) are unsure of the best path forward.
For Canadians, the loss of Google and Facebook as news vehicles would be considerable. Each is used by more than two-in-five Canadians daily for news, a proportion higher than all other platforms and websites.
Nearly every Canadian has access to the internet – 94 per cent, according to the University of Oxford’s Reuters Institute. Thus, Canadians modern media consumption is largely a digital diet.
When it comes to their first choice when they are seeking out Canadian news online, Canadians are split where they land. One-third (32%) say they first visit a national news site such as the Globe and Mail or CBC. Social media sites such as Facebook (28%), Google News (23%) and Twitter (14%) are more popular first options than local community news sites (12%).
This preference varies by age. Two-in-five (38%) Canadians older than 64 say, if they’re looking for news, they’ll head to a national Canadian source. One-in-five (22%) 18- to 34-year-olds say the same, while nearly as many say they head to Reddit (21%) if they’re looking for Canadian news. That age group is more likely to be going to Facebook (30%) or Google News (27%) than to the news sources themselves to find Canadian journalism.
For the complete report by Angus Reid GO HERE
Scary. Their adherents still support this regime. Time for the trust fund baby to go.
Trudeau the Commie once again trying to silence Canadians who despise him. The majority of news outlets only have positive comments to make about him and have been paid off by the Liberal government