Implementation of Bill C-18 Framework in India
[By Ashutosh Chandra] The author is a student at the Jindal Global Law School. Introduction: Recently the Canadian Parliament introduced the Bill C-18. The law aims to bring about fairness in the Canadian digital news ecosystem and make sure that the system can support itself. This is done by regulating commercial interactions between digital intermediaries and news outlets. If the bill is implemented, digital intermediaries will be forced to pay a certain amount for âmaking availableâ news content produced by outlets on their platforms. When the law is analyzed in the context of India, there is a pending case before the Competition Commission of India (âCCIâ) against Google concerning its position of dominance in the news market by the Indian Newspapers Society (âINSâ). It is contended that creators of news broadcasted in the digital space are not being provided fair value for their efforts and it is Google, the entity controlling the ad-tech value chain due to its dominant position. Noting the pending case and the Canadian law, the paper would try to understand what the law enacted by the Canadian Parliament would reap if a similar law were enacted in the Indian legislation. Additionally, the paper would also analyze if there were mechanisms that the CCI can use to frame guidelines for the operation of such law. Bill C-18 and other similar laws â purpose and impact: As per Section 2(a) of the Bill, news content or any portion of it is made available when it is reproduced. Even if access to the same is facilitated by âany meansâ, then the news content is made available. And if this is done in the space of a digital intermediary, then the intermediary must provide compensation to the producer of the news. Again, the purpose behind this is to increase âfairnessâ in the Canadian digital news market. However, at the stage of the pronouncement of the bill, it is unclear how this will be achieved. Even though âfairnessâ is proposed, it is firstly contended that compensation to the producer would not automatically guarantee fairness. If anything, the paper argues the same would lead to unfairness between the producers through the depletion of opportunities for the new news business and a decrease in net neutrality. Quantum for Payments It is to be noted that the quantum of payment to the news producers is very low. The intermediary does not even need to publish the news on its platform to provide compensation. Merely, providing access through the method of hyperlinking would do. The âany meansâ part of the bill ensures the same. Going by the consideration of the provision, intermediaries would need to remove complete access to not pay. Before the implementation of the bill, the news producers produced and posted news through their handles on platforms operated by intermediaries. If the same is considered, the parliamentâs purpose of payment for news content with consent serves no purpose. In any case, these news outlets provide their consent for their items to be hyperlinked on intermediary platforms like Facebook, as also denoted through the privacy policy of Facebook. Basis for Compensation Further, the blanket of compensation can be interpreted to extend toward all news producers as per the section. It has no qualitative or quantitative basis on which it is decided whether a news producer is to be paid or not. While there may be contracts that the intermediaries and news outlets enter, the problematic portion is that there are no supervising guidelines for the formation of these contracts. The only requirement is that compensation must be necessarily paid. In such a case, the intermediaries may be forced to use their metrics and then decide the compensation amount as a general practice, provided that the intermediary decides to contract with multiple business outlets. This would open another set of problems â which includes the intermediaries to news outlets that do not generate revenue or serve no purpose, and only enter contractual relationships with news outlets. This would then lead to the elimination of those discarded outlets from mainstream social media. Therefore, the proposed bill is silent on these implications of the provisions and would thin out the competition in news in the online sector. Standard of Journalism The other implication is the standard of journalism. Due to compensation being provided regardless of the quality of news published, a news operator may not be motivated to provide high-quality content. This would result in an overall depletion standard of journalism in online news media. Since online platforms are paramount for news outlets in this age and day, it only follows that newer outlets would not be able to find their footing in the industry, as the intermediaries are not motivated to pay everyone and use everyoneâs sources. Therefore, there is a clear detriment to competition. Advertising of News Platforms Then there is the question of digital advertising on operatorsâ platforms. The model suggested would bring about an end to digital advertising on news, as now the operators will have to pay businesses instead for the news produced, as opposed to them taking money from news businesses to spread reach. This model is structured in such a manner that it would lead to a loss of profits for digital intermediaries. Even so, the news intermediaries have other sources for digital advertising. The model is not going to financially cripple the digital intermediaries, even though it may affect them negatively. However, the larger problem also appears harmful to upcoming and less-known news platforms. Now, news outlets may not partake in the process of digital advertising, as now the intermediaries will have to pay for news. And digital intermediaries cannot be expected to advertise for a news business without getting compensation for it. Therefore, the source for them to grow their business through digital advertising and make people aware of the network no longer works for them. Position in India: In the case pending with the CCI, the relief asked is for a just payment system for news creators on
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