Google agrees to pay $100 million per year to host Canadian news content
David Krayden
“We have found a path forward to answer Google’s questions about their process and the Act. Google wanted certainty about the amount of compensation it would have to pay to Canadian news outlets.”
Google has caved to the Trudeau government’s demand that social media platforms pay to post Canadian news. The agreement is a result of the Online News Act that many have seen as government extortion. New media have argued that having their material posted on social media platforms dramatically increases their circulation and ad revenue.
Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge announced the “historic development” Wednesday, noting that Google has agreed to pay Canadian publishers $100 million annually for promoting their news stories.
Meta, which includes Facebook and Instagram, is still refusing to pay, saying it has no intention of posting Canadian news while the Online News Act, or Bill C-18, remains in force.
St-Onge inherited Trudeau’s internet censorship file in a summer cabinet shuffle. The Liberals have also passed Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, which forces online media to adhere to Canadian content rules.
“We have found a path forward to answer Google’s questions about their process and the Act. Google wanted certainty about the amount of compensation it would have to pay to Canadian news outlets,” St-Onge said at a news conference in the foyer of the House of Commons.