> The people that control our media and telecommunications in Canada could fit in a compact car.

Spot on. In Canada it's about the handful of the oligarchs who have control over almost everything. It has nothing to do with the average plebs

And now CBC won't be on Google, Twitter (over gov funding label), or Facebook(?)

I won't be surprised if we (the taxpayers) end up having to support them even more. Who knows maybe they'll have to pass more tax subsidies for the other major players too.

But does anyone actually win from this? Has someone behind C-18 run the numbers and found a way that this would increase revenue for Canadian media companies?

I don't see how Meta and Google weren't completely predictable, and I don't see how Canadian media benefits from getting shut out. I am so confused.

its going to do the exact opposite of what they said its going to do. Google and meta will disable linking to canadian news sites, canadian news sites won't receive the revenue from those visits.

Meanwhile american news is still free to share in canada, so linking to american news will be the norm and the act to protect and fund canadian news will create an increase in consumption of US news and will remove money these companies already receive from google traffic.

It's so bad its upside down.

This is the textbook definition of the "Lucas Critique" in that people/companies adjust their behavior to changing laws, often undercutting the supposed benefits of policy goals.

Asa Canadian, I can safely say that any other country's news coverage would be better than the cesspool of US news would be on the table.

This isn't a one way street either. Entrenched big tech use news and any other carrot to keep people locked into their closed platforms. Google Search, Google News, Facebook etc.. are just that much more ripe for disruption having one less bullet to keep the average person plugged into their walled gardens.

You aren't locked into any news platform at all. They're all totally open and you're free to use any you want. You aren't removing a bullet to keep someone plugged into a walled garden here - as I said there's no restrictions on sharing US news, only canadian news. Google and facebook will continue to share US news and it will be the only news Canadians see from them, in effect reducing the reach of Canadian news and promoting its consumption in canada.

So this bill does the opposite of what it claims to do - it reduces the reach of canadian news, increases the reach of american news, and reduces the amount of money coming in to canadian journalism. Its literally the opposite of everything it claims.

In Australia, similar laws were implemented and Google and Meta eventually made deals to pay a number of media companies for links. I assume that's the outcome the government is hoping for.

Not sure what will happen this time.