(OTTAWA) Print and digital media industry advocates are slamming Google for 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. .
Google confirmed on Wednesday that it was blocking nearly 4% of Canadian users from viewing news content, to test its potential response to the Liberal government’s online news bill for five weeks.
Bill C-18 would force digital giants like Google and Meta, owner of Facebook, to negotiate agreements to compensate Canadian media companies for the republication of their content on their platforms, or for offering links drive.
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.
Michaël Nguyen, president of the FPJQ
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.
“The days when big tech companies could operate without social responsibility as part of their business plan are over,” he added.
The example of Australia
When Australia introduced a similar law in 2021, Meta temporarily blocked Facebook news.
Meta had previously threatened to take this route in Canada, but the company said Thursday that it had made no changes to its services there “at this time”.
The company said it does not generate significant revenue from news content.
Deegan said he spoke with Australian publishers who warned the situation could happen again in Canada.
Feedback we’ve received from Australians indicates that Google will be making a lot of sword noises before the law comes into force. But once it has the force of law, they act as a responsible corporate citizen.
Paul Deegan, President of News Media Canada
On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez also suggested that Google was being intimidated.
“It didn’t work in Australia, and it won’t work here because Canadians won’t be intimidated. At the end of the day, all we ask of the web giants is to pay journalists their fair share when they use their work,” spokeswoman Laura Scaffidi said in a statement Wednesday.
Rodriguez argued that the bill will “improve fairness” in the digital news marketplace by creating a framework and process for dealing with online behemoths.
During Google’s testing, affected users will see limited access to Canadian news.
The measure will also affect some Android users who use their phone’s Discoveries feature, which broadcasts news and sports reports.
All types of news content are affected by Google’s tests, which will last about five weeks, the company said. This includes content created by Canadian broadcasters and newspapers.
The company said it conducts thousands of tests each year to assess any potential changes to its search engine.
The organization Les AMIS, formerly known as “Tous amis de Radio-Canada”, says that Google’s decision is above all a matter of greed.
Its director, Marla Boltman, said Google was driven by greed at all costs, rather than wanting to work with lawmakers around the world to uphold and support press freedom and democracy.
Meta funds a limited number of grants that support emerging journalists at The Canadian Press.