We have witnessed many times that big companies such as Google and Meta get into a deadlock with the governments of the countries where they are active. One of them is happening in the triangle of Google, Meta and the Canadian government last week. Two world giant companies rebelled against the Canadian government because of the rules and policies that were opposed. So why did this conflict arise? Will Google and Meta pull out of Canada? Here are the details…
Could this be the end of Google and Meta’s withdrawal from Canada?
The Canadian government enacted a law called C-18 last week. With the law aimed at the development of domestic media organizations in Canada, news sharing rules have also changed. Accordingly, it has to pay extra fees for news on Google and Meta platforms and belonging to Canadian local media outlets.
So, think about it this way, you are reading a news article from ShiftDelete.Net, one of the media organizations in Turkey. You probably searched for this news on Google and clicked on the news and started reading. And that’s where it all starts, because according to Canadian law, Google has to pay a fee to the ShiftDelete.Net website because you found the news on Google.
Following this news, Google and Meta, which opposed the decision, stated that they would not pay the necessary fees and that even any of the news from the Canadian local media would not be on these platforms. So you won’t be able to access news from Canada’s local media outlets via Google and Meta platforms.
But there is something ridiculous here. News sharing websites generate revenue thanks to Google. However, it is absurd to expect websites to pay fees again, because if these websites are already reaching global audiences of readers and followers, this is thanks to Google and Meta. In short, it is not clear whether the C-18 law fully supports development or decline.
However, it is expected that the issue will be re-evaluated by the parties and a new decision will be reached. For Canadian local media outlets, not being among the biggest global media outlets would do serious harm. So what do you think? Don’t forget to give your opinion in the comments section…