[canadiantim]

It is just whoever the CRTC/Heritage Minister deems to be a Digital News Intermediary. If designated then these companies will have to pay to use links pointing to large media companies in Canada. The price will be determined either through negotiation or forced arbitration, but regardless Bill C-18 is a tax on news links in Canada. The effect of which is of course censorship even if it's not targeted but instead content-neutral. This will hurt the smaller publishers more than the larger publishers (who are actively getting monetary compensation) and so Bill C-18 effectively censors small news media in Canada.

If anyone is wondering the criteria for being deemed a Digital News Intermediary, there are two requirements: 1. a platform must be in a position of a “significant bargaining imbalance” between themselves and the news businesses. This is determined by the CTRC / Heritage Minister and is based on several factors (outlined in section 6 of the bill): e.g. "whether such an imbalance exists, including the size of the platform, whether the market gives the platform a strategic advantage, and if the platform occupies a prominent market position. According to Rodriguez (the Heritage Minister), only two platforms meet this standard: Google and Meta. This is why platforms such as Microsoft (with Bing and LinkedIn), Twitter, and Apple are not subject to the law even though they feature news links. 2. The second requirement is that the digital news intermediary must make news available content available to persons in Canada. If the platform does not make news content available, it is not a digital news intermediary.