After Meta, Google. Ulcerated by the adoption of Ottawa’s Online News Act, which it calls “unenforceable”, the web giant announced Thursday that it would eliminate links to Canadian news from its search engine for users in Canada. For his part, Meta continues to crack down, slashing the funding that was granted to The Canadian Press in order to finance journalistic positions within the press agency.
Another tile falls on the Canadian government: to that of Meta, which announced last week its intention to put a definitive end to the sharing of content of Canadian news to protest against the adoption of the law, was added that from Google.
“The government has given us no reason to believe that the regulatory process will be able to solve the structural problems of the legislation,” said Kent Walker, president of Global Affairs at Google (Alphabet) in a blog entry on Thursday.
Therefore, “we have informed the government that when the law comes into force, we will unfortunately have to remove links to Canadian news from our research, news and discovery products in Canada,” he explained.
The law will also “make it untenable for us to continue to offer our Google News Showcase product in Canada,” the top executive continued, expressing “disappointment” at coming to this and saying that the decision, like its “impacts,” was not “taken lightly”.
Company executives met with Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez last week. The latter had praised their collaboration as well as their proposals “based on common sense”, depicting them as more constructive players than Meta.
His cabinet had not yet reacted to Google’s affront on Thursday afternoon.
The deputy leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), Alexandre Boulerice, has for his part shelled a string of criticisms to describe the behavior of digital multinationals: “predators”, “raptors”, “bullies”, he hammered in interview.
“Who do they think they are, these people? You still have to have a forehead all the way around your head to despise and flout the laws that have been adopted by Parliament […] We will not back down, and we will encourage our friends in the Liberal Party to show just as much firmness,” he continued.
The NDP and the Bloc Québécois supported Bill C-18. The Conservative Party voted against.
Meta exchanges fall by the wayside
Another web giant unhappy with the legislation, Meta, continued to hit back.
“Meta has informed us of its intention to terminate the agreement that supports the news exchanges,” Malcolm Kirk, president of The Canadian Press, wrote Thursday in a message to employees, indicating that the current agreements will be honored until their end.
PHOTO PETER DASILVA, REUTERS ARCHIVES
These decisions by the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp come about a week after the passage of Bill C-18 aimed at forcing the Internet giants to enter into retribution agreements with the media whose content they publish.
The day before, it was the Canadian groups having concluded agreements with Facebook concerning remuneration in exchange for the use of journalistic content who learned the bad news. The National Independent Information Cooperative (CN2i), which brings together six regional daily newspapers in Quebec, has publicly confirmed the end of its agreement.
According to our information, similar announcements were made by the American giant’s other partners, including daily newspapers such as The dutyTHE Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail.
Meta refuses to comment publicly on the fate of these agreements.
On its website, The Canadian Press explains that its partnership with the Californian multinational aimed to fund eight journalist positions across its offices in the country.
“Other financial and operational implications need to be carefully considered and we’ll say more about that later,” Kirk told news agency staff.
These decisions by the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp come about a week after the passage of Bill C-18 aimed at forcing the Internet giants to enter into retribution agreements with the media whose content they publish.
Mark Zuckerberg’s company immediately reacted by announcing that media content would be blocked for its 24 million Facebook and Instagram users in the country.
This should happen before the law comes into effect, in about six months.