Expert: Canada reaches online news deal with Google

The Canadian government has reached a deal with Google over the Online News Act that will see the tech giant pay $100 million annually to publishers, and continue to allow access to Canadian news content on its platform. Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge announced the "historic development" regarding the implementation of Bill C-18 on Wednesday, after the tech giant had threatened to block news on its platform when the contentious new rules come into effect next month. (CTV News) 

Here is an expert from McGill University who can provide comment on this issue:

Taylor Owen, Associate Professor, Max Bell School of Public Policy 

“Google’s opposition was always a negotiation tactic to get as low a liability cap as possible, so that it could set a global precedent. There are half a dozen similar bills in motion internationally, and it wanted to set the bar in Canada. Google can’t really get out of news. Providing access to reliable information is part of its core value proposition. Meta, on the other hand, has been increasingly getting out of news for five years, and the block in Canada is a convenient scapegoat for it to blame this on a government.” 

Taylor Owen is the Director of the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy and the Beaverbrook Chair in Media, Ethics and Communication. His areas of expertise include digital media, technology and misinformation. 

taylor.owen [at] mcgill.ca (English)