this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2023
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Canada has been left out of a recent expansion of Google's artificial intelligence-powered chatbot known as Bard as the big tech giant continues its fight with the federal government over the Online News Act.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Don't care. Google is also being a baby and blocking Canadians from Canadian news.

Perhaps we should all move away from Google? They clearly can't be trusted when their response to pay Canadian journalists for rehosting their content is "nah, we instead are going to block Canadian news".

I don't think it's unfair to pay someone when you're rehosting their stuff or driving away clicks by giving an article summary. Especially when there's no Google without links. Just like Reddit doesn't work without users submitting content. Not to mention it's bold to play this game when there are plenty of Google alternatives now.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you want to move away from google there are plenty of people on fedi who can help.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I switched to duck duck go a year ago and honestly I get my news quicker and more reliably from Lemmy, TikTok, and previously Reddit.

It's actually scary how much I see from 50 different angles on TikTok before any news outlet even covers it, if even. Saw a stabbing in Toronto from multiple angles a few HOURS before I even seen an article about it.

I know Lemmy hates TikTok, but can't deny it's great for being up to date ASAP when it comes to news. At least for right now.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

DDG which uses Bing to power its results will also have to comply by the same law or drop Canadian news results if they don't want to negotiate and pay.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Right. Which isn't DDG wrongdoing. I'm not going to give DDG a strike for being caught in the crossfire.

I'm already only using the basic necessities from Microsoft because they are a shit company, just like the rest lol.

But we will also see what Microsoft does. They may comply and make Google look even more childish.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Didn't the C18 specifically name google and meta?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The bill itself doesn't name any specific company. It has a clause saying that the CRTC will publish and maintain a list of "digital news intermediaries" to which the contents of the bill apply. The official list isn't yet available.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Ahhh, misunderstood the article I read then

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Canada has only specified Meta and Google as targets for the law.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The official list of digital news intermediaries hasn't yet been published by the CRTC. Although Alphabet and Meta have been in the news, it's very likely Microsoft will also be impacted and by proxy all services that use Bing (including Yahoo and DDG).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Microsoft doesn't have a dominant market position in anything news-related, though. Why would they get targeted?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why wouldn't they? Microsoft operates the largest search engine used in Canada after Google, owns LinkedIn which is one of the top 10 social media platforms with a heavy news aggregation focus like Facebook, provides a default news aggregation feed pre-installed on all Windows computers, etc.

By the wording of the bill, there's no reason they can't be labeled as having a "prominent market position" or "a strategic advantage over news businesses". And this applies especially so if Alphabet and Meta recuse themselves from the Canadian news market.

If the spirit of the bill is to get money from big corporations to support Canadian news organizations, then there's no reason not to target Microsoft. And the fact that MS has already been consulted on the bill and released a statement about it strongly suggests they'll be on the list.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Bing has like 5% market share lol

And LinkedIn? The amount of link volume coming out of LinkedIn is negligible.

Microsoft's core businesses are Windows, Office, and Azure. They might be "big tech" but they're not "big ad tech".

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

"Reposting" as in linking to their content? Most other companies pay Google for that service.

How are those companies going to drive views to their site? Do you think Microsoft and Meta are going to play ball? They aren't. Do you expect Lemmy instances to pay whenever someone uploads a Canadian news article?

Our country is a literal South Park meme right now. We're just waiting on the bubble gum and Bennigans coupons.

This is borderline fascist legislation. Restricting the flow of information on the internet so that Canadians are forced to turn to traditional mainstream media for their news. It was never about money.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

This is borderline fascist legislation.

No it's not. It's dumb, sure; but it's not fascism.

What's your goal to preserve the 4th Estate?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Preserve the 4th estate? They're probably waiting for an invite to the 5th column.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

β€œReposting” as in linking to their content? Most other companies pay Google for that service.

Google has apps that rehost content instead of linking to it. Also, many people only view the headline or the brief description, driving views away completely.

How are those companies going to drive views to their site? Do you think Microsoft and Meta are going to play ball? They aren’t. Do you expect Lemmy instances to pay whenever someone uploads a Canadian news article?

Like I said, search engines rely on content to work. You can already request your website be removed from Google, and prevent it from ever being crawled again. Imagine if everyone did this, Google would literally be useless. Google needs content to work. Google shows ads in their search engine, so they are getting paid by simply linking to your website.

Who said Meta and Microsoft wont play ball? Who said Lemmy is going to have to, is Lemmy a search engine? You're losing the point.

Our country is a literal South Park meme right now. We’re just waiting on the bubble gum and Bennigans coupons.

Ya, because people like you are okay with Google censoring and blocking news to Canadians for... some reason? Not sure why.

This is borderline fascist legislation. Restricting the flow of information on the internet so that Canadians are forced to turn to traditional mainstream media for their news. It was never about money.

Oh, there's the south park coming out. It's clear you've never created content online. What Google is doing is wrong, and Canadian journalists aren't wrong for wanting to be paid for views that are taken away. It's quite literally Google that is restricting the flow of information, so not sure why you're blaming Canada.

All Google needs to do is pay pennies per click, just like they do with everything else. They are being a greedy American company who will slowly learn that they can't treat the rest of the world like they do Americans. Look how great Google is. https://youtu.be/cA_cJAFF8Ss

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/cA_cJAFF8Ss

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.