Meta and Google Remove Links to Canadian News After Passage of New Legislation
On Thursday, Google announced that it will eliminate Canadian news links from search results and other products within Canada once a law mandating internet giants to compensate news publishers is implemented. The company, which is owned by Alphabet, made this statement.
Google joins Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. in announcing it will end Canadian users’ access to news after Bill C-18, or the Online News Act, was passed last week.
The law is expected to enter into force in six months.
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, who introduced the law last year, has said the platforms have no immediate obligations under the law and that the government is open to hearing them about the regulatory and enforcement process.
Canada’s media industry has called for tighter regulation of tech companies to prevent them from crowding out news companies in the online advertising market.
“We have now notified the government that once the law comes into force, we will unfortunately have to remove links to Canadian news from our Search, News and Discover products in Canada,” Google said in a blog post.
“We do not take this decision or its implications lightly and believe it is important to be open with our Canadian publishers and users as early as possible,” he said.
The law sets out rules to force platforms like Facebook and Google to negotiate commercial deals and pay news publishers for their content, similar to a pioneering law passed in Australia in 2021.
US tech companies have said the proposals are unsustainable for their businesses. Google has argued that the Canadian law is broader than in Australia and Europe, saying it puts a price on news links appearing in search results and can be applied to outlets that don’t produce news.
The search engine giant had suggested that the bill be revised in such a way that the basis for payment would be the display of news content instead of links, and it would be specified that only companies that produce news and follow journalistic standards are eligible for support.
