He canadian government introduced a bill on Tuesday to constrain web giants like Facebook and Googleto conclude commercial agreements with the media in order to remunerate them for the diffusion of their contents.

“Thanks to this law, the web giants will be held accountable, contribute to the establishment of a more equitable information ecosystem, an ecosystem that supports the independence, the freedom of the press”, declared the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodríguez, at a press conference.

The text aims to “ensure that the media and journalists receive fair remuneration for their work”, according to a press release from the ministry.

The bill, called Online News Act (Online News Act), is inspired by the one adopted in 2021 by Australia, the first of its kind in the world.

More than 450 Canadian news outlets have closed since 2008, including more than 60 in the past two years alone, according to the ministry.

The press accuses the Google group and other major platforms of profiting from their content without sharing the revenue they derive from it.

To remedy this situation, the European Union introduced in 2019 a “neighboring right” which should allow press publishers to receive remuneration for the content used by online platforms.

AFP signed a “neighboring rights” agreement with Google at the end of 2021, which pays the agency for five years for its content presented by the American giant, as well as two commercial contracts, also signed for five years.