Google Canada tells Senate Bill C-18 would create unreasonable financial liability

By The Canadian Press on May 3, 2023.

OTTAWA – Google Canada says it would be reasonable to reconsider sharing links to news sites if Bill C-18, the government’s Online News Act, becomes law.

Richard Gingras, the vice-president of the company’s news division, told a Senate committee that Google has shared its concerns with the legislation for over a year.

But he says those concerns have not been considered and that recent amendments to the bill have made things worse in some cases.

Google takes issue with provisions it says override copyright allowances, by putting a price on links.

Gingras says if the company has to pay publishers for linking to their sites, they would lose money with each click.

He says that news publishers benefit from those clicks already and that paying for clicks would create an unreasonable financial liability for Google.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 3, 2023.

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