INTUSK MAGAZINE

 As part of a growing campaign against a new law requiring payments to local news publishers, Google announced on Thursday that it intends to block Canadian news on its platform in Canada. Google's announcement follows Facebook's.

When the law is implemented in Canada in about six months, Alphabet-owned Google will remove links to Canadian news sources from search results and other services.

After Bill C-18, also known as the Online News Act, was passed last week, Facebook's owner Meta Platforms Inc. made a comparable declaration.

To enable news organizations to recover financial losses sustained during the years that Facebook and Google increased their market share of online advertising, Canada's media sector has called for tighter regulation of the internet giants.

Last year, the independent budget watchdog in Canada predicted that the deals required by the law could bring in about $249 million annually for the news industry.

The platforms do not immediately have to comply with the act, according to Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, who introduced the legislation last year. He also stated that the government was willing to consult with the platforms on the regulatory and implementation process.

Facebook and Google said the proposals were unsustainable for their businesses and for months signaled possibly ending news availability in Canada unless the act was amended.

Google will also end its News Showcase program in Canada, under which the company has agreements with 150 news publications across the country. 

Online platforms are required by law to bargain with news publishers and pay for their content. Threats to reduce their services came from Google and Facebook after a similar law was passed in Australia in 2021. Both agreements were made with Australian media organisations after the law was changed.

Google has argued Canada's law is broader than those in Australia and Europe, saying it puts a price on news story links displayed in search results and can apply to outlets that do not produce news.

The search engine giant had proposed that the displaying of news content, rather than links, be a basis for payment and that only businesses that produce news according to journalistic standards are eligible.