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Google unhappy with Canadian hyperlink law

Google is to block links to Canadian news in the country when a new law passed by the Canadian parliament comes into effect.

The Online News Act, known as C-18, requires tech platforms such as Google and Meta’s Facebook to negotiate payments deals with news providers.

“The unprecedented decision to put a price on links creates uncertainty for our products and exposes us to uncapped financial liability simply for facilitating Canadians’ access to news from Canadian publishers,” Google said in a statement.

Certainty

The firm said that it had pressed for “reasonable and balanced” amendments to the legislation, but that none of its suggestions had been accepted.

The Canadian government has said the legislation will help provide fair compensation to struggling news outlets, and has argued it is necessary "to enhance fairness in the Canadian digital news market".

Google said that, while the Canadian government had acknowledged its concerns in recent discussions, it had not provided enough certainty that the regulatory process would be able to deal with “structural issues” with the legislation.

A similar law passed in Australia two years ago led to Meta blocking users in the country from sharing or viewing news, though a compromise was later reached.