Ottawa/CMEDIA: Four of Google’s top executives are being called to appear before by a parliamentary committee after the company began testing ways it could block news content from searches subject to Canada’s Parliament passing the Online News Act.
Digital giants such as Google are required by Online News Act, also known as Bill C-18, to negotiate deals to compensate Canadian media companies for republishing content on their platforms.
After unanimous passing of Liberal MP Chris Bittle’s motion by MPs on the Heritage committee Tuesday, Google and its parent company Alphabet are ordered to give copies of all documents and messages related to its decision to retaliate over C-18 by Thursday March, 2 to the committee including a full list of the Canadian news organizations targeted by the company for blocking.
After Google began testing last week a method for blocking some Canadian users from viewing news content on a temporary basi. it said the move affected less than four per cent of Canadian users.
The motion summons Kent Walker, Alphabet’s president of global affairs and chief legal officer; Richard Gingras, vice president of news at Google; Sabrina Geremia, Google’s country manager for Canada; and Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO. The executives must appear before the committee on Monday, March 6.
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