Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/NEW YORK: Alphabet Inc’s Google was rolling out tests that block access to news content for some Canadian users, the company confirmed on Wednesday, in what it said was a test run of a potential response to the government’s online news bill.
According to Reuters, the “Online News Act” and House of Commons bill C-18, introduced in April by Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government, laid out rules to force platforms like Meta’s
Google and Facebook negotiate commercial deals and pay news publishers for their content.
Google stance
“We are briefly testing potential product responses to Bill C-18 that impact a tiny percentage of Canadian users. We run thousands of tests yearly to assess any potential changes to Search,” a Google spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reuters. The tech giant confirmed the time-limited tests, which impact a random sampling of less than 4 percent of the users in Canada, “limit the visibility of Canadian and global news to varying degrees.”
A spokeswoman of Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said Canadians would be comfortable and called it disappointing that Google is borrowing from Meta’s playbook. Thespokeswoman said, “Canadians need to have access to quality, fact-based news at the national and local levels, and that is why we introduced the Online News Act. Tech giants need to be more transparent and accountable to Canadians,”.
