Tech giant Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google has entered into a deal with the Canadian government over a disputable law and has agreed to pay local publishers for featuring their news content on its platform. The search engine giant would pay CAD100 million (about $74 billion) annually, indexed to inflation, to support a wide range of Canadian news businesses.
Google, Canada Strike a Deal
In June, Canadian lawmakers approved the Online News Act or Bill C-18, which required tech companies like Google and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) to compensate news publishers for the news links posted on their platforms. In reaction, Meta Platforms blocked news links for Canadian users on its Facebook and Instagram apps in August.
Google then threatened to follow suit and said that it would block all news content produced in Canada from December 19, when the Online News Act becomes effective. The agreement between Google and the Canadian government has now averted such an extreme move by the search engine behemoth.
Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Canadian Heritage, said that Google will have the option to work with a “single collective” to distribute its CAD100 million annual contribution to all eligible news businesses. Also, Kent Walker, president of global affairs at Google and Alphabet, said that the company was pleased with the Canadian government’s efforts to address their core issues with Bill C-18.
Meanwhile, Meta spokesperson said that the company’s decision was unchanged and explained that, unlike search engines, it does not “proactively pull news from the internet to place in our users’ feeds.”
It is worth noting that last month, Google struck a deal with a group of German publishers to pay 3.2 million ($3.5 million) annually for publishing their news content.
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