Google said Thursday it will remove links to Canadian news on all of its Canadian platforms due to a new law that requires digital companies to pay news companies compensation for content they share or otherwise reuse.
The tech giant said it will remove links to Canadian news from Google News — a personalized news service available on the web and on mobile devices that highlights local news — and from Google Discover, a mobile feature that helps people find content.
Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez accused Google of trying to intimidate Canadians, but added that “the tech giants are no bigger than Canada.”
“Big Tech would rather spend money changing their platforms and blocking Canadians from accessing the news than paying a fraction of the billions of dollars they make in advertising,” Rodriguez wrote on Twitter.
Google said it had informed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government of its decision. He did not specify when he would start removing the news, but indicated that it would happen before the law entered into force, which would be at the end of the year. The law was passed last week.
The company will only block Canadian news, so Canadians will still be able to read content from media outlets like Fox News or the BBC, for example.
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