Understanding Canada’s Online News Act

08/15/23 • 35 min

Months ago, proponents of Bill C-18, the Online News Act, dismissed warnings from Meta and Google, believing their threats to remove news links from their platforms were mere bluffs. But inevitable has occurred with Meta taking action recently by actively blocking news links and sharing on Facebook and Instagram.

The situation appears dire, leaving little hope for resolution. In this episodes Canada’s leading legal expert on this topic, Michael Geist explains what’s happened and if there’s a possible disentanglement for this mess.

Guest: Michael Geist
Michael Geist is a law professor at the University of Ottawa where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law.
https://www.michaelgeist.ca/
Read Michael’s blog on Bill C-18
Listen to Michael’s podcast Law Bytes

Gardiner Roberts website https://www.grllp.com/
Email Gavin Tighe [email protected]
Email Stephen Thiele [email protected]

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Gardiner Roberts website https://www.grllp.com/
Email Gavin Tighe [email protected]
Email Stephen Thiele [email protected]

Previous Episode

SLAPP Fighting

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Anti Libel Chill legislation is a fairly recent change. Libel Chill is the fear of being sued for speaking your mind.

An example of this is if a developer wanted to build something in a particular area but a grassroots ratepayer organization formed to oppose it. The developer might hire a legal team to essentially send the message that if people say bad things about the developer say on social media, there will be litigation.

You want to say bad things about me, I’m going to make it expensive for you.

This kind of strategy has become common, and a name has developed called Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation or SLAPP. Now a number of Canadian jurisdictions are putting in place Anti SLAPP legislation with a goal to give people peace of mind when they speak their mind.

Noble idea, but will the legislation work?

Gardiner Roberts website https://www.grllp.com/
Email Gavin Tighe [email protected]
Email Stephen Thiele [email protected]

Next Episode

Is an Emoji Legally Binding? 👍

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Emojis... widely used in digital communication to convey emotions, actions, or ideas, haven’t typically been universally recognized as legally binding symbols in formal contracts or agreements. Until now.

A recent decision at the Court of King’s Bench for Saskatchewan found the thumbs-up emoji (👍) constituted acceptance of a contract to sell 87 metric tonnes of flax. The damages ordered to be paid were $82,000.

It may be unconventional but it was legally binding.

Gardiner Roberts website https://www.grllp.com/
Email Gavin Tighe [email protected]
Email Stephen Thiele [email protected]

Beneath the Law - Understanding Canada’s Online News Act

Transcript

Gavin Tighe (00:00):

This whole notion of an external source, are we seeing a, seeing that that's going to fold in on itself and this great gamble of, well, we won't provide you with content, the tech chancellor, we don't care because we have our own content and we don't need you.