Google recently announced it was stopping tests, that began February 9th, that blocked various news content for a content for under 4% of Canadians (randomly chosen). The testing was in response to Bill C-18, the Online News Act. Google described the tests as being for the purposes of testing the impact of Bill C-18, which could assign fees to free news links in an effort to keep the digital news marketplace fair. However some saw Google’s actions as threat of what it could take away from Canadians if the bill is successful. Some of the Google Canada executives did appear before the House of Commons heritage committee to address the arbitrariness of how their tests were conducted and the real reasoning behind them.
Google executives have expressed concerns that the new bill incentivizes clickbait and be detrimental to real journalism and would prefer other alternatives to compensating Canadian news outlets other than government regulation.
Facebook has taken a stance similar to Google’s and could block Canadian news content in protest as it did for Australia in 2021.
The response from media sites like Google and Facebook to attempts at regulating the internet and other digital media does not appear to have deterred Canadian regulation attempts at this time but it has raised concerns about who has the power in a disagreement between the government and media sites when it comes to the operation of the internet.
Relevant Links:
About the tests starting:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-blocks-news-results-in-some-canadian-searches-a0577c75
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/google-blocking-news-1.6757500
About the tests ending:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/google-blocking-news-committee-parliament-1.6769287
About Bill C-18: