Google executive says Bill C-18 creates 'a situation where everybody loses'

According to a senior executive from Google, the company has yet to decide whether to limit journalism links from Canadian outlets if Ottawa passes Bill C-18.

In February, Google blocked 3.3% of Canadian users from viewing news links for five weeks. It impacted more than one million IP addresses.

The company contends the test did not prevent Canadians from seeing news from outlets of their choice, adding the news comprises less than 2% of Google searches.

"There [are many] ways they can see news, but there were [fewer] appearances of news on our services," testified Kent Walker, Google's president of global affairs and chief legal officer, at a Canadian Heritage committee hearing.

The test came amid attempts by Ottawa to pass Bill C-18, the Online News Act, which would require social media giants to bail out media companies that share content on their platforms. 

If passed, Google and Meta would have to pay for 35% of news expenditures for hundreds of media outlets, including the state broadcaster CBC, Bell, and Postmedia.

Richard Gingras, Google's vice president for news, said the bill would incentivize clickbait content over high-quality local journalism. It "threatens to create a situation where everybody loses," he said.

"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."

Taxpayers subsidize media outlets annually at over $600 million — in addition to $1.4 billion that comprises approximately 70% of the budget of the CBC. Google said it would prefer contributing to a media fund that aligns with government policy.

"We are continuing to raise concerns... we think there's a better model," said Walker on April 20. "We have not reached a final decision as to what business actions we might have to take."

Gingras wished he could convince elected representatives across Canada of a better approach than passing Bill C-18 in its current form.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, may also block news from its Canadian platform in response to the bill. 

"[We have believed] 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," said Walker.

On April 16, Heritage shadow minister Rachael Thomas penned a letter to the House Speaker, requesting an "emergency debate" on social media censorship by the Trudeau Liberals.

"These attempts [to edit or remove content it considered embarrassing] can fairly be described as government censorship of the news and the internet," writes Thomas, referencing a colleague's order paper question on government censorship.

As first reported by Rebel News, Conservative MP Dean Allison tabled documents in Parliament that unveiled Ottawa had requested social media companies remove 214 posts between January 2020 and February 2023.

Thomas referenced an attempt by Immigration Canada to censor a 2021 Toronto Sun article by columnist Lorne Gunter on pending changes within the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). 

"The government's requests were denied, thankfully," she said.

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