MONTREAL — A new Canadian bill that will compel Big Tech companies to pay news publishers for their content will be “more transparent” than the Australian law that inspired it, and will force companies to offer “fair compensation,” uphold freedom of expression and sign deals with a range of news outlets, The Logic has learned.

The Online News Act will be modelled on an Australian law that compels Big Tech companies and news publishers to come to an agreement on a price for news, forcing them into binding arbitration should the two sides be unable to come to an agreement.

As The Logic previously reported, the Canadian bill would let publishers collectively bargain with the tech companies. According to a senior government source, whom The Logic isn’t naming as they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the bill, it would also let publishers choose their bargaining partners. That would let smaller publishers band together to negotiate with tech companies, if they wish, rather than be in negotiations that include bigger publishers. 

The government added the mechanism to the bill after publishers of smaller news outlets complained the legislation risked favouring larger titles. (In Australia, some critics said the arbitration model disproportionately favours the media baron Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp owns the majority of the country’s large daily newspapers.)

The legislation will be introduced imminently, the source said. 

“When we eventually introduce the bill, we believe it will support a strong and independent press. It will contribute to the sustainability of the digital news marketplace and the production of local and national news,” Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez told The Logic in a text. Rodriguez did not comment on the bill’s contents.

Making Big Tech pay for news is popular among the major federal parties, with the governing Liberal Party, as well as the Conservatives, NDP and Bloc Québécois all having expressed support for the idea in principle.

This month, the House Standing Committee on Finance recommended that “digital platforms generating revenue from publishing news share a portion of their revenue with media outlets, following the Australian model, which would level the playing field between global platforms and our media outlets.”

The government source also confirmed what The Logic reported in January: only “qualified Canadian journalism organizations” will be able to bargain collectively with tech companies. The Canada Revenue Agency designation is limited to news-gathering organizations that produce journalism “based on facts and multiple perspectives actively pursued, researched, analyzed and explained by a journalist for the organization,” among other criteria. (The Logic is a QCJO publication.)

The bill will include language that aims to ensure publishers and tech companies don’t compromise newsrooms’ editorial independence during their negotiations, according to the source.

It will also send the sides into binding arbitration should they prove unable to negotiate a deal. A government agency will facilitate the process by maintaining a list of potential arbitration panels, and will determine whether the resulting deals meet the criteria of the law. While the source wouldn’t confirm which agency would oversee the arbitration process, two other sources with knowledge of the bill and speaking with The Logic on the condition they not be identified said it would be with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the federal agency that regulates broadcasting and telecommunications.

“It’s very positive,” said Paul Deegan, CEO of News Media Canada, which represents the country’s print and digital media industries. The government consulted with News Media Canada in writing the legislation, though Deegan has yet to see it. “We believe that the legislation will include collective negotiation backed up by the teeth of binding arbitration. We believe it’ll stop the bleeding for the industry, and really get into a reversal where people are investing in journalism,” he said.

The Online News Act will also include criteria determining which platforms are subject to legislation—and allow platforms to be exempt from the law if they’ve independently signed deals with news outlets, as long as those deals meet five criteria. 

Through the government source, The Logic was able to identify three of these criteria: the platforms will have to demonstrate “fair compensation” to the news outlet; the deals must uphold freedom of expression and journalistic independence; and the platforms must have deals with diverse voices, including local news, as well as publications serving Indigenous and racialized audiences. (Several publications, such as The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star parent Torstar, have already signed deals with Facebook and Google. The Logic has not signed a compensation deal with any tech company.)

“If [the deals] don’t meet the criteria, that means that they will have to enter into mandatory negotiations. And if they can’t come to an agreement, then they have to go to final-offer arbitration,” the source told The Logic. The legislation will also seek to ensure that publishing companies reinvest revenue from Big Tech deals in the production of Canadian news, the source said, though they would not provide details of how that might work.

Under the law, an independent party would conduct an audit, which will be tabled in Parliament, on the elements of the deals struck between news publishers and Big Tech platforms, according to the source. The auditor’s report will make public what percentage of newsroom editorial budgets the compensation deals represent for the publishers that enter into them. According to the source, the government has not yet decided whether the auditor’s report will name the individual news titles.