Synopsis-
“After the passage of a new bill requiring Google to pay a fee to news organisations, Google informed the Canadian government that it would block articles from Canadian-based media organisations from appearing in search results and other products in the country.”
Quest from the country’s news channel has brought a major change in Canada. It has passed a bill to save news organizations of the country from shutting down their doors. This new bill has majorly impacted Google and made it take a big step it would have never thought.
After the passage of a new bill requiring Google to pay a fee to news organisations, Google informed the Canadian government that it would block articles from Canadian-based media organisations from appearing in search results and other products in the country.
C-18, the new bill, was passed last week. According to Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer, the bill would have generated $329 million in revenue for Canadian newsrooms each year, a revenue stream that now appears unlikely to materialise. It necessitates that companies such as Meta and Google compensate publications when they link to news in search or feeds.
Pablo Rodriguez, M.P for Honoré-Mercier said on Twitter, “Big tech would rather spend money changing their platforms to block news from Canadians instead of paying a small share of the billions they make in advertising dollars,”.
The move, which will also remove Canadian media from Google’s News and Discover products, has the potential to have a significant impact on publishers who rely on Google search to draw in readers who support their businesses. Some users appear to have already felt the effects of the changes.
One of Canada’s largest news organisations, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, said it would “encourage Canadians to go directly to the websites they trust for their news.” Years of decline have plagued newspapers in Canada and around the world. According to researchers, 216 Canadian news offices closed their doors between 2008 and 2018.
