Heritage Minister ‘Surprised’ Google Intends to Block Canadian News in Response to Bill C-18

Leader of the Government in the House of Commons Pablo Rodriguez responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on December 11, 2020. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press)

Despite Google previously running tests to block some Canadian news in preparation for the passage of Bill C-18, Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez says he is “surprised” that the tech giant has now announced it intends to block all links to Canadian news outlets once the Online News Act comes into effect in December.

Rodriguez said that while Meta—the owner of Facebook and Instagram—had already been clear in its intention to block Canadian news, the government was still in negotiations with Google as of the morning of June 29.

“I’m a bit surprised by Google’s reaction,” Rodriguez said while appearing on CTV’s “Power Play” on June 29.

He said he did not anticipate Google would announce now that it was going to block news when the Online News Act takes effect in December, because the tech giant was requesting changes to the legislation that the government is “already” planning to make. He  did not elaborate on what those changes might be.

“The status quo is not working because the money is going to the tech giants,” Rodriguez said, adding that Ottawa is still trying to negotiate with Google despite its decision.

“I’m asking them to keep discussing with us, see how we can move forward, and I think there’s positive ways to do it because, again, what Google is asking for is things we plan to do anyways to regulations.”

News Blocking

Once it comes into effect, the Online News Act will require online platforms and digital news intermediaries to pay Canadian media outlets for any of their content that gets linked or shared on their platforms.

Google’s president of global affairs, Kent Walker, said in a press release on June 29 that Bill C-18 remained “unworkable” despite ongoing negotiations between Ottawa and the tech giant, adding that the government had not given Google any “reason to believe that the regulatory process will be able to resolve structural issues with the legislation.”

As a result, Walker said Google will be removing all Canadian news links from its Search, News, and Discover products once the Online News Act comes into effect.

Walker added that the company will “no longer be able to operate Google News Showcase in Canada.”

“The unprecedented decision to put a price on links ... creates uncertainty for our products and exposes us to uncapped financial liability simply for facilitating Canadians’ access to news from Canadian publishers,” he wrote.

“We have been saying for over a year that this is the wrong approach to supporting journalism in Canada and may result in significant changes to our products.”

Google’s decision to block Canadian news links comes about a week after Meta decided to do the same on its social media sites in response to Bill C-18.

Matthew Horwood contributed to this report.