Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez
Source: CBC News
Google said Thursday it will remove Canadian news content from its search, news and discover products after a new law Online News Act, formerly known as Bill C-18, meant to compensate media outlets comes into force.
The move to pull news from the world’s most popular search engine could have a devastating impact on Canadian media outlets, which often depend on third parties like Google to get content into the hands of readers.
The decision comes after the government’s contentious C-18 legislation passed Parliament last week. The bill has been criticized by tech giants like Meta and Google who say it’s unfair to impose what amounts to a tax on links.
Some smaller media outlets and experts have blasted the regime because they claim the bulk of the financial benefits will accrue to a handful of a large media players.
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez suggested Thursday he has no intention of backing down from this fight with the American web giants that control so much of what Canadians read and watch.
“Big tech would rather spend money to change their platforms to block Canadians from accessing good quality and local news instead of paying their fair share to news organizations,”
Rodriguez made the statement framed by a voluminous thatch of locks and beard which some anonymous wag described as a shock of white multitudinous hair coiffured to virile Quebecois perfection!
