Ottawa:

The Canadian regulator responsible for enforcing the country’s online news law said Thursday it would begin setting up a framework for talks between news organizations and internet giants this autumn with the aim of introducing mandatory bargaining by early 2025. Will give

Canada’s Online News Act, part of a global trend of paying tech companies such as Alphabet’s Google and Meta’s Facebook for news, became law in June but has not yet gone into effect.

Both companies have said the law is impractical for their businesses, and Meta has already ended sharing the news on its platforms. Google also plans to block news from search results in Canada before the law goes into effect.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is tasked with finalizing the rules, and will be the monitoring authority for interactions between Canadian news publishers and online platforms.

The CRTC said in a statement that the regulator will conduct a public consultation in the autumn regarding the framework for negotiations. It will recruit independent arbitrators over the next year.

The CRTC said it would publish the framework and code of conduct for the law in the summer of 2024, and that mandatory bargaining could begin by early 2025 once eligible news organizations and intermediaries are established.