Online News Act: Google withholds AI chatbot as Meta runs ads opposing new law

The tech giants are continuing their battle against the Liberal government, with Google deciding against allowing its new artificial-intelligence chatbot to be used in Canada and Meta running ads opposing the Online News Act.

A Google spokesman says the digital company is working through regulatory uncertainty in Canada related to Bard, an AI-driven online conversational tool seen as a competitor to the popular ChatGPT from OpenAI.

Bard currently surfaces links to news, which conflicts with Google’s stated goal of removing links to Canadian news in Canada in response to the new online news law.

Previously known as Bill C-18, the law will force global tech players to enter into agreements with Canadian news outlets to compensate them for content they share or otherwise repurpose on their platforms.

The chatbot is now available in more than 200 countries, with Google having expanded Bard to the European Union last week after resolving regulatory concerns there. Canada is excluded alongside countries such as Russia, North Korea, China, Belarus, Afghanistan and Syria.

Meanwhile, Meta has begun an ad campaign on Facebook, which it owns, to criticize the law and explain why it’s removing news from the platform.

___

Meta funds a limited number of fellowships that support emerging journalists at The Canadian Press.

The Canadian Press