The solution to this problem is for Google, Facebook and other web sites that link to news to limit links to web sites that agree that the free traffic they're receiving from extremely popular web sites is sufficient compensation for linking to them. In other words, block links to any web site that feels entitled to be paid for being linked to.
There are plenty of web sites that will be happy to take the free traffic and it isn't like it matters to Facebook's bottom line if their mostly elderly users are arguing over some article from Fox News (which supports the journalism cartel bill in the US) or some article from Breitbart (which opposes the journalism cartel bill). I imagine it won't take long for Murdoch to change his mind and stop trying to shake down tech companies for the privilege of sending his media outlets free traffic.
They cannot do that. The law forbids discriminating against any Canadian news business. If they link to news sites that don't demand payment but won't link to ones that want to be paid, it'd be viewed as retaliation.
The only options are to accept the rigged negotiation process and pay all news business vastly inflated rates, or to link to none of them.
> to limit links to web sites that agree that the free traffic they're receiving from extremely popular web sites is sufficient compensation for linking to them.
The problem with this is there's no direct relationship between the two. So Google and Facebook can arbitrarily decide to "punish" a paper by demoting or flat out filtering their content.
These platforms aren't doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. They put this content on their platform because it made their platform more popular and provided value for them, and now that they've monopolized user attention, they're directly weaponizing it.
> There are plenty of web sites that will be happy to take the free traffic
So.. it's a race to the bottom. News sources are no longer selected based upon quality or user demand, but on their willingness to be used by billion dollar tech giants. I'm sure the quality of the reporting will be identical.
The news sites in Canada are owned by billion dollar media and telecom companies. Nowhere near the scale of Google & Facebook, but among the largest companies in Canada. Speaking as a Canadian, this is very much a protectionist law trying to prop up an old media business the public no longer has much interest in.
Right.. so the post I'm replying to suggests that Google and Facebook should just drop these larger publishers and instead abuse smaller publishers who "would just be happy for the exposure."
So.. your argument is, because you don't like some media companies and are willing to speak on behalf of all Canadians, the market really isn't worth protecting at all?
I don't see what is "abusive" about sending media companies free traffic. There are millions, if not billions, of web sites on the internet that would be thrilled to be "abused" by Google and Facebook in this way.
The "abuse" here is certain media companies that think they're entitled to shake down tech companies that do them the favor of sending traffic their way. The core business model of Google and Facebook, which has made them into 2 of the most valuable companies in the world, literally involves other companies paying them for ads to draw some incoming Google and Facebook traffic to their web sites. If you can't run a profitable business when you're getting an enormous inbound of free inbound traffic from Google and Facebook then you're so utterly incompetent at running a business that it is best for everybody that capitalism be allowed to work its "creative destruction" magic and reallocate those resources to somebody who can use them profitably.
There are plenty of web sites that will be happy to take the free traffic and it isn't like it matters to Facebook's bottom line if their mostly elderly users are arguing over some article from Fox News (which supports the journalism cartel bill in the US) or some article from Breitbart (which opposes the journalism cartel bill). I imagine it won't take long for Murdoch to change his mind and stop trying to shake down tech companies for the privilege of sending his media outlets free traffic.