Google agrees to pay Canadian media for use of their content
Canada’s standoff with tech giants Google and Meta over their use of domestic news content has eased on one front, after the federal government announced Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with Google to compensate publishers in Canada.
The deal comes just weeks before a national law takes effect requiring tech companies to pay news outlets for using their content online.
Under the deal, Google will provide $73.5 million (or 100 million Canadian dollars) each year to news organizations, including independent media, indigenous media and multilingual media. The money will be distributed based on the number of employees each eligible news outlet employs, administration officials said.
“This is a historic development,” said Pascale St-Onge, Canada’s heritage minister, whose agency helps oversee technology regulation. “It will create a fairer commercial relationship between digital platforms and journalism in Canada,” she said, adding that the new revenue is “good for the news sector.”
“After extensive discussions, we are pleased that the Canadian government has committed to addressing our core issues,” said Kent Walker, president of Global Affairs for Google and Alphabet, in a statement.
The government’s talks with Meta are at a standstill.
Canada’s national broadcaster CBC said it was “very pleased” with the deal and believed it was an encouraging financial development for other news companies, spokesman Leon Mar said in an email.
Canada’s online news law, which was modeled after a similar law in Australia, faced pushback from tech companies including Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, and began blocking news content from Canadian users’ feeds in August.
Meta has argued that the law was based on a flawed premise that the company unfairly profited from hosting news platforms and said it generated a huge readership for media companies.
The law comes into effect at a time when the news industry in Canada, like much of the world, is shrinking under the pressure of lower advertising revenues, and relies on social networks for much of its readership.
In reaching an agreement with Google, Canadian officials said they were following similar negotiations between other governments and the tech company. Germany recently announced a 3.2 million euro deal with Google involving German news media.
“If a better deal is reached elsewhere in the world, Canada reserves the right to reopen the arrangement,” Ms. St-Onge said.
Google had also threatened to block access to news in Canada, but agreed to continue talks with the government. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said talks with Meta were deadlocked.
“Unfortunately, Meta continues to completely abdicate any responsibility to democratic institutions and even stability,” he told reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday.