Google has made known how it intends to respond to the Liberals’ online news legislation, which would require major tech companies to pay Canadian media organizations for the content they share or reuse on their platforms.
The modifications will be made before the Online News Act, originally Bill C-18 takes effect by the end of this year.
Online News Act
Only Canadian publishers will be affected by the prohibition, which also applies to links on Google News and Google Discover. Canadian customers will still have access to news articles published by foreign publications including the BBC, the New York Times, and Fox News.
In Canada, Google will also discontinue Google News Showcase, a service that it uses to license news from over 150 regional publications. Until the change occurs later this year, those current agreements will remain in effect.
- Google plans to respond to Liberals’ online news legislation.
- Canadian publishers banned from Google News and Discover links.
- Online News Act mandates businesses to compensate publishers for increased revenue.
Informing Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez of the decision, Google’s head of global relations, Kent Walker, explained that the agreements are predicated on the capacity to highlight Canadian journalism, but Google will not have a new product to feature.
The removal of Canadian news from Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms before the law’s implementation was also disclosed last week. For up to 5% of its Canadian subscribers, it is already testing the ability to block news.
Both businesses are required by the Online News Act to reach arrangements with news publishers to compensate them for news content that appears on their websites if it increases their revenue.
The Liberal government sees the dominance of Meta and Google online as a danger to Canadian democracy at a time when the news sector is still experiencing budget constraints because of a drop in ad income.
