Google has announced that it will block Canadian news on its platform to avoid paying news publishers according to a new Canadian law. The search engine giant is joining Facebook in expanding a campaign against the law requiring payment to local news publishers.

Google will remove links to Canadian news from search results and other products in Canada at the commencement of the implementation of the law. The new law is scheduled to kick in by January 2024 and Facebook has made a similar announcement.

The new law is Bill C-18 which is termed the Online News Act. The law is aimed at protecting local news originators who have suffered losses in the years when Facebook and Google accounted for a greater share of the online advertising market. It is estimated that news businesses in Canada could receive up to $250 million per year under the new legislation.

The implementation of the new legislation still offers some thorny areas. Google and Facebook have no obligations immediately under the act. The Canadian government says it is open to consultation with the two media giants on regulatory and implementation challenges. However, Google and Facebook maintain that the proposals were harmful to their businesses, leading to their planned exclusion of Canadian news content from their platforms. The Canadian government however insists on the full implementation of the law. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the companies of using bullying tactics to get the law overturned.

The law stipulates online platforms to negotiate with news publishers and pay for their content. A similar law passed in Australia in 2021 prompted a similar response from Google and Facebook. It is possible that a compromise could be reached between the government and the companies, as was the case in Australia.

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