Google blocks news access for local Canadians, follow in Meta's footsteps?

Google blocks news access for local Canadians, follow in Meta’s footsteps?

Posted On: September 23, 2023

Illustration of Google Office. Photo: Shutterstock

Google following in Meta’s footsteps, she took steps to block local Canadian news content from everyone platforms they. This decision by Google applies to all users or local residents in Canada.

The company will remove Canadian news results from search engine, news aggregator, as well as its discovery app, which provides users with a curated list of news and videos.

The tech giant will also end the Google News Showcase program. This massive change will impact Canadians over the next six months.

“We are disappointed that this happened. We do not take this decision or its impact lightly and believe it is important to be transparent with editor Canada and our users as soon as possible,” wrote Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, in blog post, reported by the news agency Toronto Star.

Because of the new law on online information?

Google reports that the Canadian government has passed a new law, Bill C-18 (Online Information Act). Essentially, the settlement requires large companies like Google to pay publishers or news agencies for each link featured on every Google product, according to CNBC.

It is hoped that this regulation will contribute to annual revenues of approximately US$329 million, or IDR4.9 trillion (exchange rate of IDR15,042) for all Canadian newsrooms. Even though it seems significant, this amount of revenue is still not comparable to the revenue generated by Google Search, Meta (Instagram and Facebook).

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, one of Canada’s largest news organizations, encourages Canadians to go directly to the site the Web news directly. CNBC reports that newsrooms in Canada and around the world have been in decline for years.

“Big tech companies would rather spend money (on) modifying their platforms to block information, rather than pay (for the information that appears) with the revenue they make from billions of dollars of advertising,” said Pablo Rodriguez, deputy. for Honoré-Mercier, via his Twitter account.

Google previously reported revenue from Google Search of US$40.69 billion in the second quarter of 2023.

Meta previously said it would begin blocking Canadian news content on Facebook and Instagram as soon as the law takes effect. Similar legislation has already been passed in Australia.