OTTAWA - The U.S. State Department is taking aim at Canada’s Online News Act in a human rights report that criticizes press freedom in Canada — which experts characterized Thursday as Orwellian.
The Online News Act, which requires Meta and Google to compensate news publishers for the use of their content, is cited in a section of the report covering freedom of the press.
“The U.S. is determined to crush two important pieces of Canadian legislation, the Online News Act and the Online Streaming Act. Their end game is clear,” said Fen Hampson, an international affairs professor at Carleton University.
While Meta pulled news from its platforms in response to the 2023 law, news outlets are now receiving payments from a $100-million Google fund. Prime Minister Mark Carney indicated last week he is open to repealing the legislation; a government spokesperson said “implementation of the Online News Act is still ongoing” in response to a query from The Canadian Press.
Carney previously killed a digital services tax that would have applied to many large U.S. tech companies after U.S. President Donald Trump halted trade negotiations with Canada over the tax.
Last week, a group of U.S. Republicans urged the Trump administration to push Canada to eliminate the Online Streaming Act. That bill forces large streaming companies like Netflix and Amazon to make financial contributions to Canadian content and news.
Hampson said large tech companies oppose both pieces of legislation. “What we’re seeing is not what I would call honest criticism. It’s a calculated campaign to protect Big Tech’s profits,” he said.
The US state department is not in a position to criticize anybody about press freedoms. Or to be releasing human rights reports of any nature except perhaps one congratulating themselves on the rate at which they are eroding in the USA.
Keep boycotting the US. They’re a shitstain on this planet.
They’re right that the ONA is problematic. However, I’d say a leader that openly threatens the press is worse.
