Googlehas vowed to remove links to Canadian news publishersacross its platforms for users residing in the country, affectingGoogle News, Search, and Discover. The company says it took this decision following the passing of Canada’s Bill C-18, which imposes a ‘link tax’ on Google and Meta for all links to Canadian news publications.
The law is set to come into effect by the end of the year, which is when Googlealso wants to start its new policy. At the same time, Canadians will be able to use all of Google’s products to read international news publications, which aren’t affected by the change. It will still be possible to access Canadian news via Chrome when you type in the outlet’s web address, or via other apps you can get from the Play Store. Over time, Google expects that its all-or-nothing approach will be refined as the government defines which news organizations are affected by the change and which aren’t.
Google will also phase out collaborations on News Showcases with Canadian publishers.
Google News Showcases
Public safety alerts, like SOS alerts, are not affected by Google’s decision and will continue to reach people. SOS alerts are meant to inform potentially affected people with timely information on floods, fires, earthquakes, and other big-scale emergencies.
Google says that it faces uncertain financial liabilities if it were to continue linking to Canadian news: “The unprecedented decision to put a price on links (a so-called ‘link tax’) creates uncertainty for our products and exposes us to uncapped financial liability simply for facilitating Canadians’ access to news from Canadian publishers.”
Google additionally makes a point that the change fundamentally breaks how the web works: “For more than 30 years, the ability to link freely between websites has been fundamental to how the open web works. In fact, free linking – which lets you click on a link and immediately access the source of that information – was the main innovation of the web.”
Google offers an FAQ on how it’s reacting to Canada’s Bill C-18
The only other company affected by the law is Meta, with both Google and the Facebook company defined as digital platforms that are subject to the law.Meta has also vowedto remove links to Canadian news outlets in Canada before the bill takes effect later this year.
According to CBA, lawmakers want to address and imbalance between tech platforms and Canadian news publishers, supporting the news industry. The government says that 470 outlets have closed since 2008, with many jobs disappearing in the process. The new compensation is supposed to fund and protect the sustainability of Canadian news.
Canadianlawmakers behind Bill C-18 explainthat Bill C-18 “proposes a regime to regulate digital platforms that act as intermediaries in Canada’s news media ecosystem in order to enhance fairness in the Canadian digital news market. The Bill introduces a new bargaining framework intended to support news businesses to secure fair compensation when their news content is made available by dominant digital news intermediaries and generates economic gain.”
A similar situation unfolded in Australia a few years ago, but the situation could be resolved as publishers and platforms worked together on a satisfactory solution for everyone involved. It doesn’t look like this will be a possibility under the new Canadian law, though.
