Google and Meta pulling news will 'devastate' the industry, says Canadian publisher

If Google and Meta pull content from Canadian news outlets it would "devastate" the industry, says Village Media CEO Jeff Elgie.

Village Media runs 25 community news websites, including six in northern Ontario – Sudbury.com, Soo Today, Bay Today, Elliot Lake Today, Timmins Today and Northern Ontario Business.

Elgie told CBC News he has been against Bill C-18, otherwise known as the Online News Act, from the start.

The law, which received royal assent last month, requires tech giants like Google and Meta to pay media outlets for news content they share or otherwise repurpose on their platforms.

In response, both Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, and Google have said they will pull Canadian news content from their platforms when the law comes into effect later this year.

Elgie said about 50 per cent of the traffic to his company's websites comes from Facebook and Google.

"The whole approach with this bill in our opinion has been flawed from the get go," Elgie said.

"[It's] based on the notion that Google and Facebook steal content from publishers, which of course is not at all true. We, since the beginning, have always happily put our content on Google and Facebook because of the tremendous amount of traffic and audience that we get back from that."

Elgie said losing access to those platforms will make it especially difficult for small publishers like Village Media to expand into new communities.

The company started in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and Elgie said they already have a strong foothold in that community. 

"There's this behaviour where if anything happens in the city that's significant, the first thing people do is they just go to Soo Today," he said.

But if he were to enter a new market, the local news website would need to build up a local readership first.

"There's no reasonably cost effective way to get in front of an online audience without those platforms," he said, referring to Facebook and Google.

Village Media has publishing deals with both Meta and Google, although Elgie said Meta has said it will end its agreements with publishers once it pulls Canadian news from its platform.

Some publishers support the bill

Other publishers in Canada lobbied in favour of the bill arguing it would help level the playing field in the competition for ad dollars against tech giants.

The CBC's corporate stance is in favour of the bill.

"We know that one law won't solve all of the challenges of the news business in Canada," said CBC director of media relations Leon Mar in an email to CBC News.

"But we believe the Online News Act will contribute to the sustainability of news organizations, at a time when 80 per cent of digital ad revenue goes to Facebook and Google."

On Wednesday, the CBC joined the government of Canada in pausing advertising on Facebook and Instagram.

"Access to news, a plurality of voices and a diversity of viewpoints are all cornerstones of a healthy democracy," the CBC said in a press release.

"We join other Canadian media organizations that are calling for Canadians' access to news — all news, from all outlets, both public and private — to be protected."

Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said Wednesday that he is still talking with Google to reach a deal, and avoid a Canadian news blackout on its platforms.

But Meta has not resumed talks with the federal government.

Elgie said he believes a deal is more likely, and important to reach, with Google.

But he said Meta has been pulling away from news for several years, and it would not surprise him if they pull away completely.