Google joined Facebook on Thursday in opposing a new rule mandating local news providers to be paid.
Alphabet-owned (GOOGL.O) Google will delete Canadian news links from search results and other goods in Canada when the law takes effect in six months. After Bill C-18, Meta Platforms Inc. (META.O) made a similar announcement.
Canada’s media industry has urged stricter regulation of internet firms to help news businesses recover financial losses from Facebook and Google’s growth in online advertising.
Last year, Canada’s independent budgetary watchdog calculated that news businesses may collect C$330 million ($249 million) from legislation-mandated arrangements.
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, who presented the measure last year, said the platforms have no obligations under the action immediately and that the government was ready to discuss the regulation and implementation process with them.
Facebook and Google said the plans were unsustainable for their businesses and threatened to halt news access in Canada for months unless the act was modified.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the firms of “bullying tactics” in June and resisted improvements.
“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,” Rodriguez said Thursday.
“This shows how deeply irresponsible and out of touch they are, especially when they make billions of dollars off Canadian users.”
In a blog post, Google’s head of worldwide relations, Kent Walker, wrote that the bill was impractical and that the regulatory process would not fix “structural issues with the legislation.”
“We have now informed the government that when the law takes effect, we unfortunately will have to remove links to Canadian news from our Search, News and Discover products in Canada,” Walker added.
Google will also stop its voluntary Canadian news initiative with 150 news outlets.
The law requires online platforms to negotiate and pay news providers. Google and Facebook threatened to cut services after a 2021 Australian law. After the amendment, both made arrangements with Australian media businesses.
Google claims Canada’s law prices news story links in search results and applies to non-news outlets, making it broader than those in Australia and Europe.
The search engine giant suggested paying for news content rather than links and restricting eligibility to journalistic news producers.
