Canada’s Trudeau pans Google and Meta for ‘bullying’ to stop bill

Tech giants say a Canadian law that would force companies to pay news publishers for content will hurt their business.

Tech companies Alphabet and Meta are using “bullying tactics” against a Canadian attack aimed at securing financial support for news publishers, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday.

The proposed legislation is designed to force internet giants like Google, which is owned by Alphabet, and Facebook by Meta, to make commercial deals with news outlets and pay publishers for their content.

The US-based tech companies say proposals in the bill, called the Online News Act, are unsustainable for their companies.

Google and Facebook conducted tests this year to prevent some users from viewing or sharing news content in Canada as a possible response if the legislation passes into law in its current form.

“The fact that these internet giants would rather deny Canadians access to local news than pay their fair share is a real problem, and now they are resorting to intimidation tactics to get their way,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa. “It’s not going to work.”

Introduced in April 2022, the bill is similar to a landmark law passed in Australia in 2021.

However, Google said the rules in the Canadian bill are stricter than those in Australia and Europe. It has proposed changes “to be in line with international standards” and address the company’s concerns.

“We’ve come to the table with reasonable and pragmatic solutions that ensure the bill works as intended and increase our investment in Canada’s news ecosystem,” Google spokesperson Shay Purdy said in response to Trudeau’s comments.

The bill “has some serious issues that make it unworkable for our products and services,” Purdy added.

The legislation passed Canada’s House of Commons in December and is in the unelected upper chamber of parliament, which rarely blocks legislation passed by the lower house.

The Canadian media industry wants tighter regulation of technology companies to prevent them from pushing news companies out of the online advertising market.

“The various Internet giants, such as Meta, are making record profits every year, while at the same time local independent news is struggling in this country,” Trudeau said. “We will continue to ensure that these incredibly profitable companies contribute to strengthening our democracy.”

Last week, Meta said the bill was fundamentally flawed. The company says news has no economic value for its platforms.