regs to riches

Share this post
šŸ—³ļø regulators!
www.regs2riches.com

šŸ—³ļø regulators!

Will 2023 be the year Canada passes legislation for Big Tech?

Vass Bednar
Jan 8
5
Share this post
šŸ—³ļø regulators!
www.regs2riches.com

Twitter avatar for @isabelunraveled
Isabelāš”ļø @isabelunraveled
be cringe in 2023. your life will legit get better on every front this is not a joke
8:00 PM āˆ™ Jan 1, 2023
91,903Likes13,350Retweets
Twitter avatar for @sonofalli
alli @sonofalli
consulting is so funny because why would you ask a 21 year old for advice
9:31 PM āˆ™ Jan 6, 2023
35,817Likes1,840Retweets
Twitter avatar for @melissabaker712
Melissa Baker @melissabaker712
ā€œI have a PhD in political scienceā€ she whispers as she’s on attempt #3 of spelling bureaucracy
6:06 PM āˆ™ Jan 6, 2023
1,632Likes68Retweets

Last week, I had a reflection in the Globe and Mail that was originally anchored around Bill C-18, but evolved to consider whether and how the strengths of Big Tech stocks should embolden regulators. šŸ‘‡

Twitter avatar for @globeandmail
The Globe and Mail @globeandmail
With tumbling stocks, the tech giants are weak – 2023 is the year for Canada to regulate
theglobeandmail.comOpinion: With tumbling stocks, the tech giants are weak – 2023 is the year for Canada to regulateIn the showdown over Bill C-18, Facebook will blink, just as it did in Australia, when asked to pay for news
11:08 AM āˆ™ Jan 3, 2023
2Likes1Retweet

Additional reflections below.


Strangely, on the one hand, it might make it seem as if sophisticated regulatory intervention is now unwarranted. Plus, the shadow of government regulation has generally acted to accelerate platform-led policy progress - a reminder that these firms are vulnerable to both market and regulatory interventions alike.

On the other hand, if the market share of Big Tech firms is diminishing and they are losing bargaining power, we may need to answer why they should even be regulated at all.

So, does a stock market collapse actually help to embolden regulators?Ā 

Imagining a world without news stories popping up in your Facebook feed is probably more palatable than a world without quality independent journalism you can surf online.

Nonetheless, the state’s power in an increasingly digital economy has been uncertain and tentative, allowing exploitative business models to thrive in the haze of regulatory lag.

AĀ recent articleĀ in global news platform Semafor was able to disclose the value of deals between Meta and the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post - $21M, $18.5M and $14M respectively. At aĀ TVO.org eventĀ hosted by the University of Toronto, a former co-owner of the Toronto StarĀ revealed thatĀ a condition of engaging in these payments is not discussing them.

Regardless of big tech’s stock price or the financial terms of these deals, there’s no guarantee that the move would automatically boost the coffers of legacy media outlets - citizens may be prompted to start investing in an Apple News subscription instead of directly subscribing to a newspaper, choose to invest in reader-supported Substacks, or invest their attention and money in no alternative at all.

Newspapers didn’t strike financial deals with Hot or Not, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Friendster, MySpace or TUMBLR in the past because these platforms did not destabilise their business model. As the prevalence of Facebook has grown, so has the awareness of how their ability to showcase news stories for free cannibalises journalism amid a shifting advertising environment. But consumers are starting to shift, too - at the moment, it seems that social media enthusiasts have a few more choices than they had before and there seems to be more enthusiasm for migrating to other, less popular platforms like the decentralisedĀ Mastodon.Ā Post.News, a somewhat recently-launched alternative to Twitter, promises that any news article accessed through the site will beĀ compensated with a micropaymentĀ andĀ Hive SocialĀ attempts to capture the best features of social media. Even instant messaging has been changing, with more people choosing encrypted options like Telegraph (which was created with a view to challenging the primary of WhatsApp) or Signal (which has been surging in popularity) over Meta-owned WhatsApp - signalling a clear preference for higher privacy standards and perhaps a distaste for the pervasive and privacy invasive advertising that has come to characterise contemporary social media use.

If andĀ as the bargaining power of the largest technology firms continues to erode, the signatories of secretive agreements with Big Tech in lieu of legislation are likely to be asked to account for their decision.Ā 

Much like the people deactivating Facebook, navigating Mastodon servers, or texting securely on Telegram, newspaper subscribers have more choice than ever before, too. Let’s ā€˜BeReal’ about what’s happening here and who actually has power, before Meta tries to buy it.

Leave a comment


šŸ—žļø Last week, I did my best to put the Competition Tribunal’s ruling in context, b/c I got sad on social media that people were attacking the Bureau for the decision.

Twitter avatar for @CarmichaelKevin
Kevin Carmichael @CarmichaelKevin
.@VassB had to revise her latest a few teams to keep up with the developments, but the conclusion remained the same: #cdnpoli's approach to #cdnecon competition is broken: Vass Bednar: The Rogers-Shaw competition ruling shows the system is broken
financialpost.comVass Bednar: The Rogers-Shaw competition ruling shows the system is brokenIt’s clear the public interest won’t be upheld by current laws that consistently favour the interests of corporations over citizens. Read on.
1:54 PM āˆ™ Jan 3, 2023
24Likes17Retweets

šŸ“Š I have a chart ā€œto watchā€ in this weekend’s Globe and Mail.

Twitter avatar for @globeandmail
The Globe and Mail @globeandmail
2023 in charts: Experts predict what’s to come for housing, jobs, wages and more
theglobeandmail.com2023 in charts: Experts predict what’s to come for housing, jobs, wages and moreFrom inflation and interest rates to housing, the job market and more, experts pick charts that explore issues they think will be critical in the year ahead
10:15 AM āˆ™ Jan 7, 2023
1Like2Retweets

šŸ“» And I was part of CBC’s ā€œCost of Livingā€ discussion (ā€œWhat exactly is the problem with competition in Canada?).


Share this post
šŸ—³ļø regulators!
www.regs2riches.com
Previous
Next
Comments
TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

Ā© 2023 Vass Bednar
Privacy āˆ™ Terms āˆ™ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
SubstackĀ is the home for great writing