(OTTAWA) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemns Google’s decision to block certain Canadian users from viewing news content to demonstrate opposition to the federal government’s online news Bill C-18.
Passing through Toronto on Friday, Mr. Trudeau wanted to express his irritation at the very end of a press conference, without being challenged on this issue.
“It’s a big mistake to do this,” said the Prime Minister. “I think it’s extremely surprising that Google would rather prevent Canadians from accessing the news than pay journalists fairly for the work they do as professionals. It’s really sad, ”he added in the same breath.
Bill C-18 would force digital giants such as Google and Meta, owner of Facebook, to negotiate deals that would compensate Canadian media for reposting their content on their platforms.
Google recently indicated that it limits access to online news content to less than 4% of its Canadian users of its products, including its popular search engine and Discover feature on Android devices that broadcast news and sports reports.
The US company said all types of news content are affected by the test, which will last about five weeks, including content created by Canadian broadcasters and newspapers.
In response to Google’s decision, the office of Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said Canadians would not be intimidated and called it disappointing that Google is borrowing from Meta’s playbook. The latter had threatened to block news from its site last year in response to the bill.
“We are briefly testing potential product responses to Bill C-18 that impact a very small percentage of Canadian users,” Google spokesperson Shay Purdy said in a written statement Wednesday.
The company conducts thousands of tests each year to assess any potential changes to its search engine, he added.
“We have been completely transparent about our concern that C-18 is too broad and, if not amended, could impact the products Canadians use and rely on every day,” Mr. Purdy said.
“We remain committed to supporting a sustainable future for news in Canada and to delivering solutions that fix Bill C-18,” he added.
Advocates for the print and digital media industry have strongly denounced the move by Google, which they say is intimidating Canadians by limiting access to online news amid a dispute with Ottawa.
“Canadians are going to see this as a foreign company that intimidates Canadians, and I don’t think it will be received well,” said Paul Deegan, president of News Media Canada, which represents hundreds of publications across Canada. .
According to the president of the Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec (FPJQ), Michaël Nguyen, Google “unfortunately demonstrates that it attaches more importance to its profits than to the public’s right to reliable and verified information”.
“This digital superpower thus says it is ready to leave the field open to content that misinforms, rather than losing a tiny fraction of its income by paying the media royalties for content that allows it to enrich itself,” said Mr. Nguyen.
Major media companies hailed the bill as a way to create a level playing field with Google and Facebook, which compete with them for ad revenue. Tech companies have criticized the bill, arguing it is the wrong approach to ensuring the vitality of journalistic information.
“The advertising revenue that was once the mainstay of local journalism, the big tech companies are now profiting from that journalism, but haven’t paid for it,” Peter Julian, NDP leader in the House of Commons, said Thursday.
With the Canadian Press