Ottawa (With files from CityNews, Canadian Press and CBC) – Google and the federal government have reached an agreement in their dispute over the Online News Act, sources tell Radio-Canada and CBC News.
The agreement would see Canadian news continue to be shared on Google’s platforms in return for the company making annual payments to news companies in the range of $100 million, a source with knowledge of the negotiations told CBC News.
The federal government and Google agreed on the regulatory framework earlier this week, a government source familiar with the talks told Radio-Canada.
The federal government had estimated earlier this year that Google’s compensation should amount to about $172 million. Google estimated the value at $100 million.
“Having taken this first step with Google is important,” said the source, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
“It is one more solution to ensure the viability of the media and restore a balance between commercial platforms.”
Facebook’s parent company Meta ended its talks with the government last summer and has already stopped distributing Canadian news on Facebook and Instagram.
Companies will fall under the Act if they have platforms that receive more than 20 million unique Canadian visitors a month and have a global revenue of more than $1 billion. Facebook and Google are currently the only platforms that meet the requirements.
Ottawa released draft regulations earlier this year that revealed a new exemption in the Act that would allow the two companies to pay a certain amount to a group of news outlets. The figure was set at $172 million a year for Google, and $62 million a year for Meta.
The exemption was designed to give the tech giants the option to reach a deal with a collective group that would include independent and minority language outlets.
