Journalism is in a state of crisis in Canada, and around the world. With platform giants taking the lion’s share of the advertising dollars and journalism suffering historic layoffs and closures despite the government’s $595 million package for journalism in 2019, Australia’s 2021 News Media Bargaining Code offered Canada’s beleaguered industry a beacon of hope. The Australian legislation aimed to address the imbalance of power between publishers and platforms and offer a lifeline to journalism—a vital pillar of democracy. Canada followed in Australia’s footsteps, tabling its own bill in 2022. In June 2023, following nearly two years of intense debate and lobbying, Bill C-18: An Act respecting online communications platforms that make news content available to persons in Canada—or, the Online News Act—became law.

The following report is the first full and unabridged account of C-18. It hopes to give policymakers, civil society, and journalists in Canada and abroad a full overview of its successes, challenges, and far-reaching implications. Through media accounts, expert testimony, as well as interviews with journalists, government officials, and global policy experts, the report details the context for the bill, its journey through Canada’s legislative process including the key debates and points of contention throughout, the lobbying and media discourses, the critical differences and similarities with Australia’s bill, the aftermath and implications for Canadian journalism, as well as future directions for news