Federal government reaches deal with Google over Online News Act

The federal Liberal government and Google have come to a deal over the Online News Act after the technology company threatened to take news content off of its search platform in Canada.

Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said in a statement that Google would make annual payments of $100 million to news companies in exchange for Canadian content still being shared on the technology company’s platform.

St-Onge said a sustainable news ecosystem is good for everyone.

“News and journalism serve to inform communities, drive civic engagement and counter the rise of disinformation. Access to news helps Canadians fully benefit and participate in democratic society,” St-Onge said.

READ MORE: Google to block Canadian news content due to online news law

Google had said it would follow suit with Instagram and Facebooks’ parent company Meta and remove news content from its search engine in Canada in response to the Online News Act.

The legislation is slated to come into effect at the end of the year and asks tech giants to compensate news publishers for sharing their content.

Canadian Heritage says more details about the deal will be shared following approval by the Treasury Board of Canada.