Google made a “terrible mistake”, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, by preventing some Canadians from accessing journalistic content through its platform.
During a press briefing in Toronto on Friday, the latter did not mince his words against the web giant.
“I think it’s extremely surprising that Google would rather deny Canadians access to news than want to pay journalists for the work they do as professionals. It’s really sad,” he said.
Mr. Trudeau made the remarks at the end of a period of his press conference intended to answer questions from journalists. No media representative has challenged him on the subject of Google’s new initiative, but the Prime Minister wanted to address the issue by mentioning that it bothers him.
On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the digital platform confirmed that the American company limits access to online news content to less than 4% of its Canadian users. The company said the tests were conducted over five weeks and involved several of its products, such as its popular search engine and Discoveries feature on Android devices that broadcast news and sports reports. .
This is a response to the Trudeau government’s Bill C-18 aimed at forcing web giants such as Google and Meta — Facebook’s parent company — to negotiate with Canadian media to strike compensation deals for the republication of their journalistic content.
“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.
On Friday, Trudeau said Canadians expect “journalists to be well paid for the work they do.”
Meta also threatened to remove journalistic content from its social network in Canada. The company had the same reflex in Australia when a similar law was passed, but finally backtracked.
Google claimed to have been “completely transparent” about its concerns about the piece of legislation put forward by Ottawa and currently being studied by senators.
“We remain committed to supporting a sustainable future for news in Canada and to delivering solutions that fix Bill C-18,” Purdy added.
The company would rather contribute to a fund similar to the Canada Media Fund than the approach advocated by the Trudeau government.
The Ministry of Heritage estimates that 450 news media have had to go out of business from 2008 to 2021 while the web giants are cashing in on impressive profits by sharing journalistic content.
If the effect of the legislation proves comparable to the similar Australian law, the sums returning to the Canadian news media could “go somewhere between 150 and 200 million dollars”, said the minister responsible for this file, Pablo Rodriguez, when presenting the C-18.
If the Liberal proposal is adopted, the platforms subject to the future law will have six months to enter into agreements on a voluntary basis with the media and demonstrate to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that these agreements are satisfactory. according to six criteria.
Among other things, they provide that the agreements provide “equitable compensation” to news organizations and that they contribute to “the viability of independent local news organizations”.
The Liberals believe that their approach would restore the balance of power in the negotiations in favor of the media, which they believe are disadvantaged in the current state of affairs.
Several media groups have already concluded agreements with Meta and Google, which have remained confidential. The Canadian Press has also had a partnership with Meta since 2020 for a program aimed at providing around ten scholarships per year to young journalists at the start of their careers.
Testifying before a House of Commons committee, Meta officials said they had ‘never paid for links’ under its deals with Canadian and Australian news groups and had no intention of doing so. in the future.