Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy comments on Google’s decision to block news for some Canadians
Says move underscores need for Online News Act
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 23, 2023
MONTREAL – Google has confirmed it is blocking news content for some Canadians in protest of the government’s Online News Act. Bill C-18, as it is officially known, looks to “rebalance the power dynamics in the digital news marketplace in order to ensure fair compensation for Canadian media outlets and journalists.” The Bill passed the House of Commons late last year and is now in its second reading in the Senate.
Nearly 4% of Canadians are affected by Google’s move, which the platform says will limit Canadian and international news displayed to Canadian users for a short period of time. Google has also said that this a test of a potential response to C-18, which could see the block apply to more Canadians who source their news using Google if the Bill passes the Senate stage and receives Royal Assent.
The following can be attributed to Taylor Owen, Founding Director at the Centre for Media Technology and Democracy at McGill University:
“Google has every right to promote their own corporate interest, but it is unfortunate that their response to this policy is to use their market power to limit Canadians’ access to reliable information. Their ability and willingness to do so further validates the core rationale for this legislation, that there is uneven bargaining power between platforms and publishers. This is a testament to the distorted power that platforms like Google possess and further underscores the need for legislation like C-18. While I wish it wasn’t necessary and hope it won’t be permanent, when taken in combination with other government policies in place to support journalism, C-18 will provide meaningful resources to the journalism sector and ensure that funding from platforms to publishers is equitably distributed and under terms that serve the public, rather than Google’s interest.”
The following can be attributed to Supriya Dwivedi, Director of Policy and Engagement at the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at McGill University:
“In an ideal ecosystem, there would be no need for legislation to regulate the financial negotiations of private publishers. However, we need to acknowledge the ecosystem Canada already finds itself in – in which Big Tech platforms like Google have already signed deals with several publishers, for undisclosed sums of money, with zero oversight or accountability. Allowing platforms like Google to strike secretive deals with news outlets is a threat to journalistic independence, one in which Bill C-18 aims to rectify by providing some basic oversight and accountability of those deals.
Canada is in line with other comparable jurisdictions in providing a framework for fairer bargaining, and C-18 has even built and improved upon the media bargaining code that Australia has had in place for over a year now, specifically by making sure there are provisions that allow for collective bargaining and enumerating robust criteria for ensuring the deals that are struck are fair and inclusive to independent outlets.This move from Google is nothing more than an intimidation tactic to other democracies who are currently in the throes of finalizing their own media bargaining framework.”
Additional resources
The Online News Act keeps journalism alive while it adapts to a new world: Taylor Owen for The Hub (November 8, 2022)
Canada’s Online News Act shows how other countries are learning from Australia’s news bill: Taylor Owen and Supriya Dwivedi for the Nieman Lab at Harvard University (August 9, 2022)
About the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at McGill University
The Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy produces critical research, policy advocacy, and inclusive events that inform public debates about the changing relationship between media and democracy, and that ground policy aimed at maximizing the benefits and minimizing the systemic harms embedded in the design and use of emerging technologies. www.mediatechdemocracy.com
CONTACT: Phaedra de Saint-Rome, phaedra.desaint-rome@mcgill.ca
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