Google announced Thursday that all of its platforms will stop providing links to news in Canada once a new national law takes effect requiring digital platforms to compensate national media outlets.

In addition, it announced that it will terminate all agreements with Canadian information companies.

Kent Walker, President of Global Affairs Google and Alphabet (Google’s parent company), in a statement described as “unfeasible”, the standard passed by Canada’s parliament last week and expected to take effect in the coming months.

Walker added that the Canadian government has not given the multinational “reasons” that make them confident that the regulatory process will solve the “structural problems” of the law.

So, Google has notified the US government that it will remove all links to Canadian news from its search, news and discover pages. in the country, while Google News Showcase, which distributed news under license from 150 local publishers, is shutting down.

Zuckerberg Networks

Last week Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, took a similar step.

Meta said in a statement that media content “will not be available” to people who access its platforms in Canada, “following the passage of the law.

In addition, Meta said it will stop funding internships for young journalists at the Canadian news agency Canadian Press.

Meta and Google have refused to pay the media companies, claiming that spreading links to their news is “beneficial” to newspapers and the media.

For its part, the Canadian government has said that the moves by Google and Facebook pose a threat to democracy and have assured it will not be intimidated by the economic resources and lawyers of the two tech companies.

News Media Canada, the association that groups newspaper publishers in the country, has welcomed the new law, describing it as a “first step” to equalize the balance of power between publishers and the tech giants.