AGREEMENT BETWEEN GOOGLE AND GOVERNMENT OF CANADA AN IMPORTANT STEP FORWARD ONLINE NEWS ACT ROLLOUT

Press Forward applauds all parties for coming to an agreement that prevents the blocking of news on Google search engines.

This past fall, Canada’s news publishers were facing the possibility of Google blocking news on their platform. Having already received a blow from Meta blocking news on Facebook and Instagram, digital news publishers would find a news block by Google extremely destabilizing.

At issue was a number of changes Google wanted to see in the Online News Act regulations, including a cap on their total financial liability under the Act and the ability to deal with only one news collective.

In October 2023, Press Forward urged the Canadian government to work to keep Google at the table while still maintaining and improving fairness in the Act. 

While not everything Press Forward has been pushing for was included in the final regulations, our association is encouraged that we will not be facing a news block, and that the regulations stipulate that deals with publishers be fair across the industry, and should be based on journalism expenditures.

As we have done throughout this process, Press Forward will continue to advocate for equity and fairness for newer digital upstart publications, including the recognition of freelance labour in the funding formula.

We look forward to working productively with our peers in the journalism industry in a collective to negotiate deals with Google.

For further information: Jeanette Ageson, Chair, jageson@thetyee.ca, 604-339-4241