An update on Canada’s Bill C-18 and our Search and News products

Google's president of global affairs, Kent Walker, said in a November 29 update that the company is working with the Government of Canada through the exemption process for Bill C-18, the Online News Act, after the government committed to address Google's core concerns. Google thanked Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St-Onge for engaging in productive meetings. In its original June 29 post, Google said the law would force it to remove links to Canadian news from Search, News and Discover and make its Google News Showcase product untenable in Canada, citing uncapped financial liability. Google said it links to Canadian news publications more than 3.6 billion times a year at no charge, valued at $250 million CAD annually.