Canada reaches a deal with Google on revenue sharing for online news
Ottawa, Canada: The Canadian Government has reached a deal with Google that will see the global tech giant share revenue with publishers, and continue to allow access to Canadian news content on its platform.
As part of this framework, Google will contribute USD 100 million in financial support annually, indexed to inflation, for a wide range of news businesses across the country, including independent news businesses and those from Indigenous and official-language minority communities.
The deal has put to rest concerns over Canada's online news law that seeks to make large internet companies share advertising revenue with news publishers.
Canada's Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge termed it as "good news for journalism".
"This is good news for journalism, for Google, and for Canadians. With this, we've shown that it is possible to build a viable, equitable and independent news ecosystem," the Canadian minister wrote on her X timeline.
The tech giant had earlier reportedly threatened to block news on its platform when the contentious new rules under the Online News Act were to come into effect next month.
When the bill passed in June, Both Google and Meta had reportedly taken the position that rather than compensating media organizations, they'd be blocking Canadian news from their platforms.
"Canadians expect reliable, independent journalism, particularly in our online world. That's what we're supporting with the OnlineNewsAct," the Canadian minister said.
"After a decade of seeing thousands of jobs lost, 500+ newsrooms close, and Canadians needing the news -- it's time."
"I'd like to thank the media workers who worked tirelessly to call for a fair relationship with tech giants. As a government, we've taken the bold step of putting platforms and news organizations at the same table to reach agreements. This matters for our democracy," she added.
