Google is set to block Canadian news links for anyone living in Canada.
The company said Thursday that when Bill C-18 takes effect, Google will remove Canadian news links from its Search, News, and Discover products.
Bill C-18, also known as the Online News Act, received royal assent earlier this month and will come into force in about six months. It will require tech giants like Meta and Google to pay news organizations for linking to or repurposing their content online.
Unfortunately, we’ve made the difficult decision that when Bill C-18 takes effect, we will remove Canadian news links from our Search, News and Discover products. https://t.co/ilWrF1uRuS pic.twitter.com/wMdoignNlC
— Google Canada (@googlecanada) June 29, 2023
Soon after the Online News Act received Royal Assent, Meta announced it would also be blocking Canadian news links in Canada.
Canadian media experts and lawyers have been sounding the alarm on the repercussions of this bill.
“Bill C-18 has become law and remains unworkable,” Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, said in a statement.
He added that the Canadian government had not given Google reason to believe that the regulatory process would be able to resolve structural issues with the legislation.
“As a result, we have informed the government that we have made the difficult decision that when the law takes effect, we will be removing links to Canadian news from our Search, News, and Discover products and will no longer be able to operate Google News Showcase in Canada,” he stated.
Walker said Google is “disappointed” it has come to this, adding that Google doesn’t take this decision or its impacts lightly and believes it’s important to be transparent with Canadian publishers and our users “as early as possible.”
Google execs say they repeatedly offered constructive feedback and recommended solutions that would have made Bill C-18 more workable for both platforms and publishers, unlocking further financial support for Canadian journalism.
This included several appearances before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage and the Senate Committee on Transport and Communications. In addition, detailed recommendations were submitted to both committees.
Google also “advocated for reasonable and balanced amendments” to the legislation for over a year and maintains that none of its suggestions were accepted.
The platform still plans to participate in the regulatory.
“We hope that the Government will be able to outline a viable path forward. Otherwise, we remain concerned that Bill C-18 will make it harder for Canadians to find news online, make it harder for journalists to reach their audiences, and reduce valuable free web traffic to Canadian publishers,” Google’s blog post concluded.
With files from Daily Hive’s Isabelle Docto
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