Ottawa, Ontario — Google said Thursday it will remove links to Canadian news on its platforms across Canada under a new law that requires the digital giant to compensate media outlets for content they share or otherwise reuse Will happen.
The tech giant said it would remove Canadian news links from Google News — a personalized aggregator service available via the web or app that highlights local news — and from Google Discover, a feature on mobile phones that helps people find content. Is.
Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez accused Google of trying to bully Canadians, but added that “big tech is not bigger than Canada.”
“Big tech would prefer to spend money changing their platforms to stop the news from Canadians than give them a small portion of the billions of dollars they earn in advertising dollars,” Rodriguez tweeted.
Google said it has communicated its decision to the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. It did not say exactly when the news removals would begin, but indicated it would be before the law takes effect by the end of the year. That law was passed last week.
Only Canadian news will be blocked, so Canadian users will still be able to see content from outlets like Fox News or the BBC, for example.
Meta made a similar announcement last week, saying it would remove the news from its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram before the law goes into effect. It is also terminating existing deals with local publishers.
Meta is already running a test to block news for 5% of its Canadian users. Google ran a similar test earlier this year.
Kent Walker, president of global affairs for Google and its parent company Alphabet, said the law was “impractical”.
In a blog post published Thursday on Google’s website, Walker said the bill creates a value on links, which would result in an uncapped financial obligation “to facilitate Canadians’ access to news from Canadian publishers.”
“We do not take this decision or its implications lightly and believe it is important to be transparent with Canadian publishers and our users as soon as possible,” Walker wrote.
The Online News Act requires both Google and Meta to enter into contracts with news publishers to pay them for news content that appears on their sites if it helps them generate money.
Google was seeking assurances about how much it might cost and how the bargaining process would proceed. Those details are likely to become clear once the bill’s regulatory process is complete.
Legacy media and broadcasters have praised the bill, which promises to “enhance fairness” in the digital news market and help bring more funding to shrinking newsrooms. In the past, tech giants including Meta and Google have been blamed for disrupting and dominating advertising, eclipsing smaller, traditional players.
Rodriguez previously expressed hope that the government could reach a positive solution with the two companies to prevent them from deleting the news. He also said that the government would continue to support newsrooms if Google and Meta removed news from their platforms, although he did not specify how this would be done.
About 500 newsrooms have closed across Canada since 2008, Rodriguez said.
