Why are Google and Facebook blocking Canadian’s access to Canadian news?
Reacting to new legislation recently approved, both Google and Meta have announced that Canadian news will be blocked from people living in Canada.
The government led by Justin Trudeau has recently passed legislation to ensure that more of the money from advertising revenue make its way to the creators of news articles in Canada. The Online News Act will require platforms like Google and Meta, parent company of both Facebook and Instagram, to negotiate deals with Canadian media publishers and pay them for their content.
In response to the law Google has said that it will remove links to Canadian news publishers’ content from its search engine, news aggregator, and Discover app. As well it will get rid of its Google News Showcase program in Canada. This follows Meta, which announced at the beginning of the month that Facebook and Instagram would end news availability for users in Canada.
Google’s Canadian news media blackout will begin in about six months when the new law is set to take effect. Meta said it will begin blocking content sometime before the law is implemented.
Google and Meta want changes to the law to provide “certainty”
Failure to comply with the new regulations could see the tech platforms face financial penalties but the exact details of how the law will be implemented have not been sorted. Prior to final passage of the law the government agreed to discuss concerns that Google had regarding the legislation.
However, while Google’s president of global affairs, Kent Walker, said in a blog post that the company “welcomed” the chance to address critical issues, and appreciated “the government’s acknowledgment that our concerns were reasonable” officials did not provide “sufficient certainty.”
Google wants that “the regulatory process will be able to resolve structural issues” as far as how the legislation will be implemented by regulators with regards to forced payments for links. Also the tech giant is concerned about “uncapped financial liability.”
How much money do Google and Facebook make in Canada?
The Canadian independent budgetary watchdog estimated in 2022 that media organizations could receive around $249 million per year from negotiated agreements on revenues for content. The government says that for example in 2020, both tech giants hoovered up over 80 percent of Canadian online advertising revenues. At the same time there were hundreds of closures in the news median industry.
“Big tech would rather spend money to change their platforms to block Canadians from accessing good quality and local news instead of paying their fair share to news organizations,” said Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, who introduced the bill last year.
“This shows how deeply irresponsible and out of touch they are, especially when they make billions of dollars off of Canadian users.”