This Thursday (29), Alphabet, the controller of Google, announced that it will remove news links in its tools available in Canada. The move follows the recent passage of the Online News Act by the Canadian Senate, as reported by Reuters. The new law requires social media platforms to pay media outlets for content shared on their services.
Meta, the company that controls Facebook and Instagram, also confirmed the restriction of access to journalistic content on its platforms. These decisions follow an outcry from the Canadian media calling for stricter regulation of technology companies.
“Social media companies can play a key role in supporting the production of authoritative news and information,” the Canadian Parliament said during the debates.
Before making this decision, Google even tried to restrict access to news for some Canadian users before the law was passed. The company said it would seek to engage with the government to find a possible solution. However, so far Canada’s federal government has denied the proposed changes, according to Reuters.
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