The Online News Act passed last Thursday and would force platforms like Google and Meta, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, to strike deals with Canadian media publishers for sharing, previewing and directing users to online Canadian news content.
Possible solution (for now): Use a different search engine. I recommend DuckDuckGo.
This law should apply to all search engines, should it not?
That’s why I said for now.
Also, the law as written applies “if there is a significant bargaining power imbalance between its operator and news businesses … [such as] the intermediary occupies a prominent market position” (6: Application). I mean, let’s be realistic, when you think “prominent search engine”, how many search engines come to mind?
The best solution is to stop reading Canadian media. Those companies knew exactly what was going to happen, enough of them supported it, and they deserve to lose their readers.
Sucks for those that didn’t, but I guess this is what will happen.