ASSOCIATED PRESS – O Google prevents some users from Canada see news content, a move the company sees as a test in response to a Canadian government bill that wants to force tech giants into deals with media outlets to republish their content on their platforms .

The company said Wednesday it was temporarily limiting news access to less than 4% of Canadian users. The change applies to the search tool and the Discover function, located on Android smartphones.

“We are temporarily testing responses to Bill C-18 that impact a small portion of Canadian users,” a Google spokesperson said in response to the newspaper. The Canadian Press. “We have been completely transparent about our concerns that the legislation is too broad and, if not changed, will impact the products Canadians use and depend on every day.”

Minister Pablo Rodriguez’s office, responsible for the arts and media sector, said Canadians would not be intimidated and was disappointed that Google was borrowing the manual from Facebook owner Meta, which made a similar move in Australia last year. pass.

“At the end of the day, all we’re asking is that tech giants compensate journalists when they use their work,” the government said. “Canada needs access to quality, locally and nationally verified information. That’s why we introduced the bill. Tech giants need to be more transparent and accountable to Canadians.”

Google, on the other hand, said the legislation does not require media outlets to adopt basic journalism standards, that the measure would favor big media outlets over smaller ones. Additionally, the company claims that the project could promote the proliferation of “cheap, low-quality, clickbait content.”

Finally, Google says it prefers to fund a fund, similar to the Canada Media Fund, that indirectly funds media.

Canada’s bill has been under discussion in the House of Representatives since December and is expected to be discussed in the Senate in the coming months.