On Friday, Google, for its part, called on the Canadian government to make “necessary” legislative changes to this law, which was due to come into force next December, citing an “inapplicable” media agreement procedure. This bill, known as C-18, was intended to allow digital giants to enter into fair commercial agreements with media outlets over content broadcast on their platforms, under penalty of having to resort to federal arbitration.
Like in Australia
“The law subjects Google to potentially unlimited financial liability simply for facilitating access to news sites and directing valuable traffic to publishers,” Google Canada argued in a 12-page document released late Friday. Without agreement on changes before the law takes effect in December, Google could decide to block access to news sites in Canada, the group suggested. Earlier in the day, Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said she was “optimistic” about convincing Google of the benefits of this law, which faces “great resistance” from digital giants.
Inspired by Australia’s actions in 2021, the new Canadian law currently targets Google and Meta and will allow press organizations to receive up to 230 million Canadian dollars (153 million Swiss francs), Ottawa said.
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