A bill that would force major tech companies to financially compensate Canadian media for news content appearing on their platforms is back in the spotlight as BCE Inc. looks to cut 1,300 jobs, including 6% at Bell Media.
Robert Malcolmson, Bell’s executive vice president and chief legal and regulatory officer, raised concerns about the C-18 bill this week, saying it won’t do what it’s supposed to do when companies like Google and Meta remove the links to news articles on theirs Restrict or block websites.
Meta announced this week that it is blocking messages for 1-5% of its 24 million Canadian users on Facebook and Instagram in a temporary test expected to last most of the month.
In response to the bill, Google blocked links to articles from various media outlets for some Canadian users for about five weeks earlier this year.
Mr Malcolmson said Bell could not afford to wait for the standoff to be resolved before announcing redundancies.
Bill C-18 is awaiting third reading in the Senate.
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