[Gunax]

I have skim read a bunch of articles on this, and I still cannot understand what is actually being charged for and what this law mandates.

I am trying to understand whether this charges for copying of news, or just linking to it.

It seems to be implied that the content is being copied. But news is already copyrightable. Why were existing copyright protections not sufficient?

Or does this law actually change for links?

And what about users sharing links? So if I just send a facebook friend a link to a newspaper, does the newspaper receive money for that?

Does Google need to pay for indexing news sites?

[dsir]

This law is a link tax. It means the government wants Meta and Google to pay every single time a link to a Canadian news source is shared on their platform (from what I understand, including even in private messages to friends). As far as I'm aware, it will also apply to Google in that they will also need to pay to index/show links to Canadian news in their search results like you described.

[soultrees]

Which is hilarious because imagine a news site not being able to publish on google or Facebook. Short-sighted at best. Goodbye news site.

[ulrashida]

Will be curious to see how this comment ages in a year.

I'm of the view that it's Google and Meta that are in trouble here. If they don't want to pay for quality news sources their content continues to noticeably degrade and become less attractive for use. They're likely trying to play hard ball with Canada and Australia because the markets are comparatively small. If the EU or the US see merit in this approach the tech companies are really going to struggle.

[nradov]

Facebook without news content will become more attractive, not less. It was a mistake for them to emphasize news content in the first place; while it might have driven a temporary increase in user engagement it devalued the product as a social network.

[reaperducer]

Short-sighted at best. Goodbye news site.

The news sites already tried it Google's way for more than a decade, and it isn't working for them. It only works for Google.

As someone clearly entrenched in the tech echo chamber, it will come as a surprise for you to learn that there are many news organizations that do not give their content away for free on the internet.

Some have paywalls. Some require paid apps. Some are -shudder- only available as dead trees.

Many of them are thriving.

My wife pays upwards of $2,000/year for a publication that is not available in any form on the internet. It has offices and reporters in a dozen cities around the world, and continues to grow.

It, and others like it, don't need to suckle at the teat of Google for pennies.

[nickcotter]

What is that publication, out of interest?