Google is preparing to stop relaying news in its search engine in Canada

Pressure is mounting on the Trudeau government and its recently passed Online News Act. After Meta’s offensive, which these days has been terminating media contracts, it’s Google’s turn to announce that it will stop relaying news content from Canadian media in its search engine. end of the year.

“We have informed the government that we have made the difficult decision to remove, as soon as the law comes into force, links to Canadian news in our Search, News and Discover products and that we will no longer be able to offer Google News Showcase. in Canada,” Kent Walker, the company’s president of international affairs, wrote in a blog post published Thursday.

He said he was “disappointed to come to this”, but believes that the new Ottawa regulations “remain unenforceable”, which the company has been repeating for months. Remember that Google had already conducted “tests” this spring limiting the appearance of news produced by Canadian media in the search results of a small fraction of the country’s Internet users.

Passed last week, the Online News Act, formerly known as Bill C-18, is due to come into force in six months. It will force web giants such as Google and Meta — parent company of Facebook and Instagram — to pay local news media for the news they share or reuse. Companies will have to negotiate directly with Canadian media.

As soon as the law was passed, Meta implemented its threat of the past few months to permanently block access to news on its Facebook and Instagram platforms to all Canadians by the end of the year.

Google has been more open to discussion. Company executives also met with the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, last week to discuss the situation. The minister had spoken of a “constructive conversation” although “difficult” with the company.

“Web giants would rather spend money modifying their platform to block access to news than paying their fair share for media work. It shows how irresponsible and out of touch they are, while making billions of dollars from Canadian users,” commented Minister Rodriguez in an email sent to Duty.

“Canada needs a strong, free and independent press, it’s fundamental for our democracy”, he insists, recalling that hundreds of newsrooms have closed their doors because Google and Facebook have monopolized the billions of dollars in ad revenue they depended on.

Last week, he also promised that his government would ensure that newsrooms have the necessary resources to do their job well, without however specifying how he would go about it.

End of agreements with Meta

To weigh even more on the Trudeau government, Meta also decided to end several agreements it had concluded in the past with local media.

“Meta has informed us of its intention to terminate the agreement which allows us to offer journalism grants,” wrote The Canadian Press president, Malcolm Kirk, in an email sent to all employees. Thursday, and of which The duty got a copy.

He specifies that the agreements already signed will be honored, while being saddened by the “abrupt end of the program for the following ones”. The Meta-La Presse canadienne grant provided funding for eight journalist positions across the news agency’s various offices across the country.

On Wednesday, Meta also ended its agreement with the Coops de l’information (CN2i), made up of daily newspapers Le Soleil, Le Droit, Le Quotidien, La Tribune, Le Nouvelliste And The Voice of the East. Since 2021, the digital giant has granted them royalties, thus recognizing the value of their content shared on social networks. CN2i’s general manager, Geneviève Rossier, told the Sun that the agreement will officially end on July 31 and that it represented a “substantial” amount.

Other Canadian media also have similar agreements with Meta, including The dutyTHE Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail. The duty declined to comment at this time. At the time of this writing, the other two media outlets had not returned our requests. Meta, for its part, declined to comment on the situation regarding these agreements.

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