Google Announces "News Service Suspension" Following Canada's Passage of the 'News Usage Fee Act'

Meta Announces Suspension of News Provision Ahead

Google announced on the 29th (local time) that it plans to terminate its news service in Canada.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Kent Walker, Google's Chief Vice President, stated in a blog post, "If the bill is enacted, unfortunately, we have informed the government that we will have to remove Canadian news links from our search engine." He added, "This bill is unworkable" and "We do not believe the regulatory process will resolve the structural issues of the legislation."

Earlier, on the 22nd, Canada passed the 'Online News Act,' which requires digital platforms such as Meta and Google to enter into 'news usage fee' agreements with domestic news organizations. The bill mandates that digital platform companies above a certain scale must sign news usage contracts with local media and pay content usage fees. If the bill is enacted, Canadian media companies are expected to earn approximately 330 million Canadian dollars (about 328 billion KRW) annually.

In response, Google retaliated by announcing the suspension of its news service.

Previously, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, also announced that it would stop providing news through Facebook and Instagram to all users in Canada before the bill's enforcement.

The news usage fee law was first introduced in Australia in 2021 and has since been adopted by several countries. After the bill passed in Australia, Google and Facebook opposed it by threatening to reduce their services. Following some amendments to the Australian law, both Google and Facebook signed contracts with local news organizations. Google argues that Canada's Online News Act is much broader than those in Australia and Europe, making it problematic.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.