Internet users could no longer see news articles appearing in their Google searches as of December 19, announced the multinational, dissatisfied with a federal regulation which specifies how it must share its revenues with Canadian media.
The company presented to journalists on Friday its 12-page brief which details eight changes that constitute the “bare minimum” of its conditions for participating in the Trudeau government’s plan to assume part of the salary bill for the country’s journalists.
In essence, Google finds that the government’s expectations are unfair and too complicated in terms of the number of agreements it must conclude with media outlets. This is required to be exempt from the costly “mandatory and unrealistic” arbitration process provided for by a recent federal law, the details of which were revealed in a draft regulation that the company wishes to modify.
More than a web giant
The online news law must come into force on December 19, 2023, six months after its adoption last June under the name C-18. All political parties in Ottawa, except the Conservative Party of Canada, voted in favor of the text.
The other company targeted by this law, Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, immediately indicated that it would never comply and removed the news from its platforms, to exclude itself from any obligation.
The only hopes that C-18 will provide any funding to the media now rest with Google, owned by the Californian multinational Alphabet. According to the draft regulation, published in September, Ottawa wanted to extract around $172 million per year from this company, compared to around $62 million from Facebook, to pay journalists in the country.
This amount would represent approximately 4% of Google’s revenues in Canada, according to federal calculations. Google disputes this bill, arguing that no “meaningful revenue” is made from news, which constitutes about 2% of all searches.
” This amount [de 172 millions évoquée par Ottawa] is far greater than the economic value that Google derives from news queries, and leaves a single company solely responsible for covering an arbitrary and substantial portion of the costs of Canadian news publishers,” we read in Google Canada’s submission to federal consultations.
A cap on contributions
Questioned by The duty, Google mentioned being ready to put at most $100 million on the table, an amount consistent with previous government estimates. His condition: that his financial responsibility be limited and that his non-monetary aid be taken into account.
The company ensures that it does not appropriate the content of any media, but on the contrary provides a clear service to news sites by redirecting Internet users there. She estimates this favor at $250 million per year.
Google fears the bad faith of certain media in the negotiations forced by Ottawa, and would like the regulations on C-18 to provide it with more flexibility and more time to conclude agreements, protected from the risk of arbitration. On the business side, we would also have liked the government to more clearly define a list of media eligible for agreements.
The Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pascale St-Onge, had instead established a certain number of criteria so that the agreements concluded were sufficient in her eyes, such as being used to pay for the production of local, regional and national news. Diverse media were required to sign these agreements, including at least five indigenous people and ten from official language minority communities.
The minister indicated as recently as this week that she was hopeful of reaching an agreement with Google on this issue. It has yet to publish a final version of the regulation on the application of the law on online news, taking into account the comments made during its consultations, which have just ended.
Expected standoff
“We will analyze all the submissions we received. We will continue to communicate with those who have questions or concerns, including web giants,” said Minister Pascale St-Onge in a statement.
The Bloc Québécois spokesperson for Heritage, Martin Champoux, asks the government to “actively negotiate while supporting our media so that the hemorrhage that has already begun stops”, such as through press assistance programs during this period. arm wrestling.
Over the past two years, Google has signed agreements with several Canadian media outlets, including The duty. Its director, Brian Myles, warns public authorities who see “only a bluff” in Google’s announcement.
“Google is a responsible corporate citizen looking for a way to fund the Canadian news ecosystem. We are asking this company and the Minister of Canadian Heritage to find a way to do this, and quickly, because blocking the news would have a catastrophic effect. »
Approximately 93% of Internet searches go through Google, while its competitor Bing, from Microsoft, claims barely 3% of the market. Unlike Meta, Google continued to participate in government consultations after the passage of C-18. The company ensures that it is continuing negotiations to find “a way through” with the Canadian government.