CHAMBER SPEECH — BILL C-18 (ONLINE NEWS BILL) — SECOND READING
The debate around Bill C-18: The Online News Act pivoted on February 22. That was the day that Google confirmed that they were conducting time-limited tests to "limit the visibility of Canadian and international news to varying degrees".
In response to questions about its actions, Google explained that less than 4% of Canadian users will be impacted by this random "testing". Given that an estimated 92% of Canadians use Google, and that Google's own data suggest that the average user conducts 3-4 searches per day, Google's assurance — or threat — implies that over 1 million Canadians have had or will have reduced access to Canadian news several times per day for the duration of this test.