Cogeco withdraws its advertising investments on Meta platforms
Montreal, July 5, 2023 – The news of the last few days has exposed Canadians to the flip-side of Bill C-18, which now obliges web giants to negotiate with Canadian news publishers to pay them royalties for the journalistic content they broadcast on their platforms.
Following the adoption of C-18, Meta (Facebook/Instagram) approached the Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage to try to make fundamental changes to the law, even though the legislative process had been completed. In fact, as part of their negotiations with the Minister, the web giants threatened to block access to Canadian information.
Meta's threats are an attempt to force Canada to abandon a fair negotiation regime with the companies whose information content is shared on its platforms. Despite its public statements, Meta's main concern is to limit the amount of royalties it will have to pay to companies responsible for making credible news content accessible.
The challenge of continuing to offer quality journalism is immense for news and media companies. The continued weakening of Canadian news media in favor of foreign search and social media giants will only exacerbate the challenges of misinformation.
In support of this legislation and the regulatory process soon to be launched for its implementation, Cogeco, along with several industry members, has decided to withdraw its advertising investments on Meta platforms.
Cogeco is also asking various governments to follow suit and temporarily cease investing in advertising on Meta platforms. In the case of the federal government, $11 million is spent annually on Meta, while only $10 million is spent on all Canadian broadcasters. It's time to get back on track and show consistency by increasing advertising spending in Canadian media rather than favoring the web giants.
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Infos: Christine Dicaire, Senior Director, Marketing and Communications
christine.dicaire@cogecomedia.com 514-796-9258
About Cogeco Média
Cogeco Media, a subsidiary of Cogeco, owns and operates 21 radio stations including talk network stations: 98.5 in Montréal, 106.9 in Mauricie, 107.7 in Estrie, 104.7 in Outaouais, FM93 in Québec City and KYK 95.7 in Saguenay; the Rythme network stations: 105.7 in Montréal, 102.9 in Québec City, 100.1 in Mauricie, 98.3 in Saguenay and 93.7 in Estrie; as well as the stations CIME 103.9 in Laurentides, 96.9 CKOI, The Beat 92.5, the four Planète stations in Lac-St-Jean and Radio Circulation in Montréal. Cogeco Media’s stations are leaders in their respective markets, reaching nearly 5 million listeners each week by providing to a wide audience a varied and relevant programming. Cogeco Media also owns Cogeco Nouvelles, the largest private news radio agency in Québec.