Google won’t rule out blocking news in Canada if Liberal bill passes, exec tells MPs – National | 24CA News
A senior government says Google hasn’t made a ultimate determination whether or not it should restrict journalism hyperlinks from Canadians if the federal authorities’s on-line news invoice passes.
Earlier this yr, Google ran a five-week take a look at that prevented 3.3 per cent of its Canadians customers from seeing news hyperlinks when looking for journalism on its search engine. It affected a couple of million IP addresses, Google confirmed.
While the take a look at resulted in March, it stays a longer-term choice for Google in response to the invoice, which it opposes.
“We are continuing to raise concerns … we think there’s a better model,” mentioned Kent Walker, Google’s president of world affairs and chief authorized officer, whereas testifying Thursday on the Canadian Heritage committee.
“We have not reached a final decision as to what business actions we might have to take.”
The on-line news invoice, also referred to as Bill C-18, would require tech giants to pay Canadian media firms for linking to or in any other case repurposing their content material on-line.
Walker appeared alongside Google’s vice-president for news, Richard Gingras, because the committee studied the actions of the Silicon Valley big.
Gingras mentioned the invoice’s passage would incentivize clickbait content material over high-quality native journalism, and sure require the corporate to pay publishers for non-factual or deceptive content material. It “threatens to create a situation where everybody loses, ” he mentioned.
“If we must pay publishers simply for linking to their sites … it would be reasonable for us, or any business, to reconsider why we would continue to do so,” Gingras mentioned.
Google mentioned it will desire to contribute to a media fund that might align with the federal government’s coverage targets whereas funding native journalism.
It additionally doesn’t imagine its take a look at had prevented Canadians from seeing news.
News makes up lower than two per cent of searches on Google, the corporate mentioned.
“There’s lots of ways they can see news, but there was less appearances of news on our services,” Walker mentioned.
Gingras added that he doesn’t really feel “contrition” concerning the actions Google has taken, however he feels a deep sense of accountability for his work. He mentioned he wished he may persuade parliamentarians there’s a greater strategy than passing Bill C-18 in its present type.
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, has additionally mentioned it’s contemplating blocking news from its Canadian platform in response to the invoice, which is now being thought of by the Senate after passing within the House of Commons in December.
“Our belief has been that it’s a normal business practice when there’s a tariff or fee for a good or service that businesses will naturally see whether or not they should provide that good or service,” Walker mentioned.
NDP MP Peter Julian, who sits on the committee, mentioned he views the executives’ feedback as a risk.
“They have in not any way apologized and haven’t in any way indicated that they won’t do it again,” Julian mentioned of Google’s take a look at.
“I think that’s very disturbing when you have a very powerful, very wealthy corporation that doesn’t learn from their mistakes. That’s problematic.”
© 2023 The Canadian Press
