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“Since Google launched AI Overviews in Canada in 2024, publishers have been harmed, and we need an immediate remedy. This should not take months to roll out, and there is no reason why this cannot be done in Canada concurrent (with) the U.K.”
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Deegan said that rather than being forced to opt out, publishers should be given the option to opt in to AI training and other AI uses, putting control over content in the hands of publishers that own the copyright-protected content rather than Google, whose machines merely scrape and summarize it.
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Anna Maiorino, a spokesperson for the Competition Bureau, said the Canadian agency is aware of the U.K.’s new conduct requirements for Google and follows the work of international counterparts closely, even though they operate under different legal regimes.
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“I would emphasize that the Bureau does not develop laws or regulations on any market, sector or industry,” she said.
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News Media Canada has been pressing the federal government to direct the Competition Bureau to conduct a market study into one of Google’s primary search tools, Googlebot, which Deegan contends makes it difficult for publishers to opt out of the AI components of Google’s platform.
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“(It’s) a co-mingled bot for both traditional search and AI,” he said. “Essentially, if you block their AI crawler, you become undiscoverable on the web … essentially throwing yourself off the internet.”
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A Google spokesperson said publishers are able to use a separate control called Google-Extended to opt out of having their content used for AI training.
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“Google-Extended does not impact a site’s inclusion in Google Search nor is it used as a ranking signal in Google Search,” the spokesperson said.
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Through federal government efforts, Canadian publishers have managed to get some compensation from Google as they struggle to reach audiences and generate revenue alongside global tech firms dominant in online search and advertising.
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Under the federal Online News Act, passed in 2023, $100 million now flows to Canadian news businesses annually from Google, which Deegan said is working well. However, he noted that these funds aren’t coming in the form of content licensing agreements, which would see the tech firms pay directly for use of copyrighted material.
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Obtaining compensation of any kind has been much more difficult when it comes to social media powerhouse Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook). In 2023, rather than comply with the incoming online news legislation, Meta withdrew the ability to share news in Canada on its Facebook and Instagram platforms.
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In addition to government efforts, the Competition Bureau has been taking steps to deal with the online dominance of major international tech firms.
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In November 2024, the Bureau took legal action against Google for alleged anti-competitive conduct in online web advertising in Canada, accusing the company of abusing its dominant position in advertising technology and the ad auction process by, among other things, taking negative margins in certain circumstances to disadvantage rivals and dictating the terms on which publishers could transact with rival ad tech tools.
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In setting out its case, the Competition Bureau said it is seeking remedies including forcing Google to pay a penalty and sell two of its ad tech tools. The competition authority also wants to see the company prohibited from continuing to engage in anti-competitive practices. However, it will be up to the Competition Tribunal to determine whether there is merit to the case and whether any remedies are needed.
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Similar cases are playing out in other jurisdictions, including in the United States, where Google lost a couple of key anti-trust cases involving online search and advertising.
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English (US)