Bill C-18: Heritage minister ‘surprised’ by Google news ban

Nabil Anas

Global Courant

Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez says he is surprised by Google’s announcement that it will stop hosting links to Canadian news outlets.

“Well, Meta, I’ve always said it was complicated; Google, we’re still having conversations as recently as this morning,” Rodriguez told CTV’s Power Play Thursday afternoon. “I’m a little surprised by Google’s response.”

Earlier in the day, Google said it will remove Canadian news from its platforms and end existing deals with local publishers due to the Liberal government’s Online News Act.

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“It was no coincidence that the United States did not take a position on C-18,” U.S. Ambassador to Canada David L. Cohen told CTV Power Play Thursday. “It’s not like the letter got lost in the mail. I mean there was a lot of discussion and there was just a decision that this wasn’t something we chose to intervene in.”

The law, which was passed on June 22, will take effect by the end of the year.

As declining advertising revenues add to Canada’s newsroom cuts, the Online News Act was designed to keep the industry afloat. Google’s search engine has a market share of about 90 percent in the country, while social media platforms such as Facebook are major drivers of digital traffic.

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