Google stated on Thursday that it would remove Canadian news links from its search engine, news and discover products. Google’s President of Global Affairs Kent Walker claimed that the Canada’s new Online News Act has made offering Google News Showcase Products to Canadian news outlets untenable.
In response to the enactment of the law, Google said Thursday, “The unprecedented decision to put a price on links…creates uncertainty for our products and exposes us to uncapped financial liability simply for facilitating Canadians’ access to news from Canadian publishers.” Google continued, “We have been saying for over a year that this is the wrong approach to supporting journalism in Canada….We have now informed the Government that when the law takes effect, we unfortunately will have to remove links to Canadian news from our…products in Canada.”
On June 21, the Canadian Parliament passed Bill C-18, also known as the Online News Act. The act purports to support the healthy operation of news outlets by ensuring that they can have their entitled shares of revenue from digital intermediaries, such as Google. The act appoints the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission as the regulator to oversee the digital news marketplace. The act also establishes an arbitration panel to review offers from news outlets and digital intermediaries, to facilitate the formation of agreements between parties. Accordingly, digital intermediaries owe a duty to bargain with eligible news businesses. The Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated that news businesses could receive extra revenues totaling CAD 329 million annually after the enactment of the act.
Following the enactment of the Online News Act, the Canadian Minister of Justice David Lametti published a Charter Statement to explain the legal effect of the act. Lametti believes that the act will enhance the freedom of the press and expression by ensuring a fair economic relationship between news businesses and digital intermediaries. Lametti also reiterated that the act only applies to digital news intermediaries and news outlets when there is a significant bargaining power imbalance. The commission is tasked with maintaining a list of targeted intermediaries based on the size of the business, the market share of the business and other regulations provided by the Governor in Council.
In October 2022, Google also wrote a brief that stated its opposition to the act. Google raised concerns about the term “eligible news businesses.” The current law has not given a precise definition of this term. Google worried that the lack of a clear definition might lower the journalistic standard because amateur journalists and foreign state-owned outlets with known sources of misinformation can also obtain subsidies under this act. Google also contended that the act would make disseminating spamming messages and misinformation easier because the undue influence clause might require Google to inflate the rankings of spammers and foreign state-owned outlets.
In addition to Google, Meta has also issued a statement on June 22, confirming that Meta will also cease to provide news products to Canadian Facebook and Instagram users.
