By David Farrell
Facebook to pay 14 Canadian publishers for some news content posted to its platform
Industry watchers say the deal brings cash to media companies hurting for advertising, but believe the arrangement should be viewed as Facebook’s way of getting ahead of potential regulation in Canada without tackling much of the criticism it faces over issues such as privacy concerns and the prevalence of misinformation on its platform. – Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press
Should user-generated content (UGC) be exempt from law and regulation?
The original version of the Bill (C-10) included an explicit carve out for user-generated content in order to reassure consumers that they were not being targetted, but once review by Parliamentary Committee began it was quickly realized this would create a massive loophole that could be exploited by the social media platforms. They could have used the UGC exception to avoid obligations being imposed on other streaming services, such as Spotify for example, with respect to Canadian music. An amendment was therefore proposed dropping the explicit exclusion for UGC. This prompted critics to charge the government with interfering with free speech and dictating what Canadians can post on social media. This is total hyperbole and the critics from the main opposition party, the Conservatives, are surely aware of this, but politics is politics. – Hugh Stephens’ Blog
The Best and the Worst Songs and then those that just lost their sheen
What are the most loved and hated Lost Factor songs? The ones that were hits at the time that people came not to like over time? The songs that people disliked even then? The ones that readers still love and can’t understand why they’re lost? Sean Ross lists them off and notably there’s not a single Canadian dud in his lists.
News Bytes
– Hassan Al Kontar spent 7 months living in an airport, until Canada took him in. Now he's written a book about it – CBC News
- Feds look to rebuild cultural and heritage industry, focus on portraying diversity – CityNews 1130
– Heritage handout on federal, provincial AGM
– Covid Canada “misery index” ranked by province
– Partisan think tank Macdonald-Laurier Institute has created a comparative tool designed to assess comprehensive government performance through the COVID-19 pandemic, measuring the extent to which the virus itself and our responses to it have harmed human wellbeing.
– Canada is about to surpass the U.S. in first doses of the COVID vaccine – Maclean’s
– Texas set to allow people to carry handguns without a license – or training – The Guardian (UK)
– Biden signs bill opening door for Alaska cruises to resume, bypassing Victoria – AP
– US judge hears final arguments in row between Apple, Epic Games. The case threatens to upend how the $142B world of mobile applications is managed. – Bloomberg
– The Epic vs. Apple judge does not seem to be buying Apple’s defense – Forbes
– The Late Show with Stephen Colbert returns with full audiences June 14 – YouTube
- Mick Jagger’s oldest kid is 50, while his youngest is 4 years old - Distractify
– Discovery’s CNN challenge: Inheriting a global news giant amid cable ratings decline – WRAP Pro
– Fox Corp Boss Lachlan Murdoch says Tucker Carlson's vaccine misinformation is 'brave' – The Wrap
– Spotify launches Fresh Finds artist discovery project. More than 60K new tracks a day are uploaded to Spotify and breaking through that background noise is one of the biggest challenges that the up-and-coming generation of independent artists face. – Celebrity Access
- Netflix lands Martha Stewart doc from ‘Billie Eilish – Variety
