Meta and Google's News Dilemma: Navigating Canada's Online News Act

In 2023, the government of Canada introduced the Online News Act (ONA), a regulatory intervention that addressed the steep and long-standing decline of the Canadian news industry. The Act was positioned as a mechanism to stabilize the news ecosystem by compelling dominant digital platforms to negotiate financial agreements with eligible publishers or face binding arbitration. Meta Platforms Inc. (Meta) and Google LLC (Google), which together made up the majority of Canada's digital advertising market, became the central actors in this policy experiment to support Canada's struggling news sector. Meta and Google implemented contrasting strategies in response to the ONA. The case invites students to evaluate which company adopted the more strategic approach and to consider how business models, regulatory pressures, and global precedent shape corporate responses to national legislation.