Canada parliament questions Google execs over news-blocking test

Molly Cone and Ismail Shakil

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google will stop blocking news articles from some Canadian users’ search results on March 16, a company executive told a Canadian parliamentary panel investigating the tech firm on Friday.

Google began testing news censorship last month in response to a Canadian government bill. This bill aims to make online platforms pay Canadian publishers for news content.

Google claims that this test is similar to thousands of other product testing it conducts regularly.

The company claims that the tests affected less than 4 percent of Canadian users. They were started on February 9, and will continue for five more weeks.

Jason Kee, Google’s public policy manger, confirmed to a parliamentary panel that the tests will end next week.

“I want to underline these are just tests. No decisions have been made about product changes,” Kee said.

Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister, stated last month that it was a “terrible mistake” Google will block news content as a reaction “Online News Act,” A bill by the government that created rules to allow platforms like Meta’s Facebook, Google and others to make commercial deals and pay news editors.

“It really surprises me that Google has decided that they’d rather prevent Canadians from accessing news than actually paying journalists for the work they do,” He stated that at the time.

Questions were raised during the panel about local journalism outlets like the 13-14 weekly newspapers that Martin Shields owns in his riding. 

“Blocking is something that I think irritates the local people, the grassroots people. The unintended consequences here of this move, I don’t think is a way to negotiate and I think it’s a mistake on your part,” Shields spoke to Sabrina Geremia of Google Canada.

Geremia stated that Google contributes to Canadian news, driving 3.6 Billion visits by Canadians to links to news sites. It also has licensing agreements with more than 150 publications across the country. 

Facebook raised concerns over the legislation and warned that it could be forced by law to ban news-sharing.

Canada’s news media sector has requested more regulation for tech companies to help it recover the financial losses it has sustained over the years tech giants have steadily gained greater advertising market share.

The proposal from Ottawa is very similar to the landmark Australian law passed in 2021. This too was subject to threats by Google and Facebook to end their services. After a series amendments were made to the legislation, both sides reached agreements with Australian media companies.

(Reporting by Molly Cone, Toronto, and Ismail Shakil, Ottawa; Editing: Aurora Ellis