Digital giants Google and Meta — Facebook and Instagram’s parent company — have long been threatening to block news to users in Canada in response to Bill C-18, the Online News Act.
Meta has already begun blocking The Tyee.
Passed in June, Bill C-18 requires tech companies to pay Canadian news organizations for the content they produce. In theory, this is Canada’s response to balance out the effects these digital giants have had on the news industry by making them pay their share.
As our publisher wrote after the announcement, these proposed actions from Meta and Google impose further consequences on Canadian journalism and democracy.
What is this new era for news media and democratic discourse we are entering, and how did we get here?
Moments like this remind us how precious and valuable news and information is for an informed citizenry and what happens when there are more barriers to it.
We’re quickly adapting. And you, our readers, are our core concern. As the dependence on accessing news through these digital giants is being thrown into question, we want to ask:
How do you want to get Tyee news?
* Please note that all poll answers will be publicly viewable, but anonymous.
Please note that Tyee Barometer polls are only intended as a quick and engaging non-scientific snapshot of our readers' opinions on various topics that fit with The Tyee's very broad editorial mandate. They are not intended to be seen as a representative sampling of BC opinion.