Google Limits Access News Content for Some Canadian Users
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VIVA – Tech giant, Google is limiting access some Canadian users from viewing news content. It was done as a test of the government’s rule to charge online platforms for news content.
The rule is known as Bill C-18, or the Online News Act would require platforms like Facebook and Google to negotiate deals that would pay news publishers for their content. The bill is currently before the Canadian Senate for debate.
Google said on Wednesday that it is temporarily limiting access to news content for under four percent of its Canadian users as it assesses possible responses to the bill.
The change applies to its ubiquitous search engine as well as the Discover feature on Android devices, which carries news and sports stories.
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All types of news content are being affected by the test, which will run for about five weeks, the company said. That includes content created by Canadian broadcasters and newspapers.
"We're briefly testing potential product responses to Bill C-18 that impact a very small percentage of Canadian users," Google spokesman Shay Purdy said in a written statement on Wednesday in response to questions from The Canadian Press.
Minister Pablo Rodriguez said that his country would not be intimidated and called out Google for adopting Meta guidelines.
Last year the company threatened to block news from its site in response to the bill, "It didn't work in Australia and it won't work here because Canadians won't be intimidated. At the end of the day all we ask of tech giants is to compensate journalists when they use their work," said spokesperson Laura Scaffidi.
Rodriguez explained that the bill is similar to legislation passed in Australia in 2021 that would improve fairness in the digital news market by creating a framework and bargaining process for online giants to pay media outlets.
