OTTAWA — Senior US Google executives assured a House of Commons committee on Thursday that they would have the same “considerations” if the US introduced legislation similar to Canada’s to force the “web giants” to shut down the media to compensate you for sharing message content with you.

However, Google’s President of Global Affairs Kent Walker declined to comment on whether, if at all, the company would implement the same five-week lockdown that prevented some Canadians from accessing journalistic content through its platform. What Google describes as one of many tests was conducted in response to Bill C-18, which is currently before the Senate.

Pressed by Bloc Québécois Martin Champoux to say whether such an initiative would be taken concurrently with the development of an American law, Mr Walker replied that it was “obviously difficult to speculate”.

“But I would say that we have raised similar concerns (…) in the United States, and we have consistently done so in countries around the world when faced with potential new regulations to assess how they might affect.” would affect our services. ‘ he said while appearing under oath before Canadian MPs on the Heritage Committee.

Minutes earlier, his colleague Richard Gingras, Google’s vice president of news, avoided answering directly to liberal Anthony Housefather’s question about whether the US Congress was “treated differently.”

“I would say quite frankly that if the facts were the same, our reasoning would be the same,” the platform representative said.

It is clear to Mr Champoux that the treatment reserved for the United States would be different as he believes Google is playing the “big guns” with Canada.

“I would be very, very surprised that if Americans decided to pass such a law, we would have such swollen arms,” ​​he told the Canadian press.

For his part, Mr Housefather claimed that it was possible that Google might follow the same course of action given American initiatives, but that remains to be seen. “Maybe it’s a big company that sometimes thinks it’s bigger than government agencies.”

The senior leaders, who declined to appear before the Heritage Committee in March, did not close the door on the blockade returning to Canada if C-18 is adopted in its current form because “no final decision has been made.” .

The temporary suspension of Google has been frowned upon by all major parties represented in the House of Commons, although the Conservatives oppose Bill C-18.

Google Canada representatives who testified at the committee in March were heavily criticized as MPs believed they had failed in any way to answer the questions asked.

The tone was different Thursday, with many elected officials pointing out that they received responses from US business leaders, even if they didn’t always share their views.

New Democrat Peter Julian told The Canadian Press that Mr Walker and Mr Gingras have promised to provide many documents and it will be necessary to ensure the information is provided.

“We’ll see in a week or two if they provide internal communications, for example, and all the information about the budget they provide for lobbying and government relations,” he summarized.

According to him, Google will face “public opinion” if it continues to vibrate with the possibility of reinstating a ban.

From the start, senior Google executives defended the idea of ​​having conducted their “tests,” mentioning that this type of exercise was also conducted in Australia, where legislation similar to Bill C-18 was passed.

“Google News costs us millions to run but generates no revenue. If we were to pay publishers to post links to their sites, causing us to lose money with every click, it would be reasonable for us, or any business, to reconsider why we would continue to do so,” argued Mr. Gingras.

He reiterated that the company would rather finance the media through a monetary fund than be regulated by the government.

On this point, Conservative Martin Shields tried unsuccessfully to obtain an amount that Google would be willing to invest in such a fund. “You may not want to negotiate with me, but you always bring (that) back (…) Put a number on the table,” he cursed, saying he doubted the 13 weekly newspapers in his constituency would get their share .

Bill C−18 is trying to force digital giants like Google and Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, to negotiate deals to compensate Canadian media companies for displaying or providing links to their content in “News”.

Several media outlets have already made deals that have remained confidential, but C-18 sets criteria to ensure “fair” deals.

Like Google, Meta is considering banning all journalistic content from its platform.