TORONTO, May 3 (Reuters) – Google and Meta would withdraw access to news articles in Canada if legislation is passed requiring internet companies to pay news publishers, company executives told Canadian lawmakers on Wednesday .
Canada’s proposed legislation would force platforms like Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) and Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) negotiate trade deals and pay Canadian news publishers for their content, part of a larger global trend to make tech companies pay for news.
Google could be forced to remove links to news articles found in Canadian search results if the bill passes, its news vice chairman Richard Gingras said in testimony to a Senate committee, citing “unlimited financial liability.” if he had to pay publishers to link to their sites.
Meta would also disrupt the availability of news content in Canada if the bill passes as currently drafted, said Rachel Curran, public policy manager for Meta in Canada.
Ottawa’s proposal is similar to a groundbreaking law that Australia passed in 2021, which also triggered threats from Google and Facebook to cut their services. Both eventually struck deals with Australian media companies after amendments to the legislation were offered.
This year, Block tested by Google access to the news by some Canadian users as a potential response to the legislation, a move Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a “terrible mistake”.
Google connected with Canadian news publishers more than 3.6 billion times last year, Gingras said, helping those companies make money with 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 place on our platforms is unworkable,” Curran said.
The bill introduced in April 2022 by Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez is the latest legislation that aims to make digital media platforms pay for linking news content.
“All we ask tech giants like Facebook and Google to do is negotiate fair deals with news organizations when they profit from their work,” Heritage Ministry spokeswoman Laura Scaffidi said.
Reporting by Sam Jabri-Pickett in Toronto, additional reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa, editing by Steve Scherer and Josie Kao
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Principles of Trust.
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