Google Announces Termination of News Access in Canada Due to Publisher Payment Law

In a move that joins Facebook in intensifying a campaign against a new law demanding payments to local news publishers, Google announced on Thursday that it intends to restrict Canadian news on its platform in Canada.

When the law takes effect in roughly six months, Alphabet-owned Google will delete references to Canadian news from search results and other goods in Canada.

Following the adoption of Bill C-18, often known as the Online News Act, Facebook owner Meta Platforms issued a comparable declaration the previous week.

The media sector in Canada has advocated for more stringent oversight of Internet behemoths so that media outlets may make up for the financial losses they sustained when Facebook and Google increased their market share of online advertising.

Last year, it was projected by Canada’s independent budget watchdog that transactions required by the legislation might bring in around CAD 330 million (about Rs. 20,436 crores) annually for news businesses.

The platforms do not instantly have any obligations under the legislation, according to Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, who introduced the law last year. He also stated that the government was willing to consult with the platforms on the regulation and implementation process.

Facebook and Google declared the measures unworkable for their companies and hinted for months that news distribution in Canada may halt unless the act was changed.

The federal government of Canada has resisted calls for reform, and in June, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau charged the businesses with employing “bullying tactics.”

“Big tech would rather spend money changing their platforms to prevent Canadians from accessing good quality and local news,” Rodriguez said in a statement on Thursday. “Big tech would rather pay their fair share to news organisation.”

This demonstrates how utterly careless and out of touch they are, especially considering that they profit enormously from Canadian users.

Google has said that the law in Canada is more expansive than those in Australia and Europe because it charges for links to news stories that are featured in search results and because it can apply to media entities that do not generate news.

The dominant search engine has suggested that payments be based on the distribution of news content rather than links, and that only organisations that create news in accordance with journalistic standards should be considered.