Google finally agrees to pay $100 million for news in Canada

The C$100 million ($73.6 million) deal ends a six-month impasse after Canada passed an online news law that would force Google and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to give advertising dollars to Canadian news organizations.

The dispute between tech giants and the Canadian government erupted after Canada's Online News Act was tabled and passed, a major event in the field since Australia became the first country to force platforms like Google and Facebook to pay for news in 2021.

Meta suspended links to Canadian news articles earlier this year in protest of the law, and Google has threatened to follow suit when the law comes into effect in mid-December unless Canadian authorities soften its impact.

Google has been steadfast in its opposition to forcing news links on its services to be paid for, which it fears would set a precedent that could be applied to other types of online links. The internet giants have long claimed that their links drive valuable traffic to news sites, with Google claiming its news links are worth $250 million CAD per year to Canadian news organizations.

However, Canada's Online News Act aims to bring more “fairness” to payments for online news, after the bulk of online advertising dollars went to Google and Meta, rather than traditional newspapers and media channels.

In a compromise announced Wednesday, Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said the deal would “benefit the news industry and allow Google to continue to play its vital role in helping Canadians access trustworthy news content.” Google’s payments would go to a collective fund, she added, eliminating the need to negotiate with individual publishers.

Canadian officials estimated earlier this year that the law would cost Google $172 million Canadian dollars to newspapers. It is unclear whether the final regulations of the law, which are expected to be released before it takes effect on December 19, will be implemented.

Meta pointed out that the agreement with Google will not affect its decision to block news links in Canada. “Unlike search engines, we do not actively scrape news from the internet to include in users’ feeds, and we have long made clear that the only way we can comply… with the Online News Act is to stop providing news to people in Canada,” Meta said.

Meta has also stated that press information has no economic value on the technology giant's platforms and will continue to restrict press sources and links on Facebook and Instagram in the future.

Hoang Hai (according to Google, FT)

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