Canada's proposed legislation would force platforms like
Google parent Alphabet and Facebook parent Meta Platforms to negotiate
commercial deals and pay Canadian news publishers for their content, part of a
broader global trend to make tech firms pay for news.
Google may be forced to remove links to news articles found
in Canadian search results if the bill passes, its vice president of news
Richard Gingras said in testimony to a Senate committee, citing an
"uncapped financial liability" if it had to pay publishers for
linking to their sites.
Meta would also end the availability of news content in
Canada if the bill is passed as currently drafted, said Rachel Curran, head of
public policy for Meta in Canada.
Ottawa's proposal is similar to a ground-breaking law that
Australia passed in 2021, which also triggered threats from Google and Facebook
to curtail their services. Both eventually struck deals with Australian media
companies after amendments to the legislation were offered.
This year, Google tested blocking some Canadian users'
access to news as a potential response to the legislation, a move Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau called a "terrible mistake."
Google last year linked to Canadian news publishers more
than 3.6 billion times, Gingras said, helping those companies make money on ads
and new subscriptions.
Curran said Facebook feeds sent Canadian publishers more
than 1.9 billion clicks in the 12 months ending April 2022, worth an estimated
$230 million in free marketing.
"A framework that requires us to compensate publishers
for links or news content they voluntarily put on our platforms is
unworkable," Curran said.
The bill introduced in April 2022 by Heritage Minister Pablo
Rodriguez is the latest legislation aiming to make digital media platforms pay
for linking news content.
"All we're asking the tech giants like Facebook and
Google to do is negotiate fair deals with news outlets when they profit from
their work," Heritage Ministry spokesperson Laura Scaffidi said. © Reuters
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