Google has begun limiting how much news content some Canadian users can see on its platform.

First reported by The Canadian Press, a spokesperson for Google has also confirmed to MiC that the company is testing “potential product responses” to Bill C-18, also known as the Online News Act, including blocking news content on Google’s properties. The company says the current test impacts less than 4% of Canadian users and will run for approximately five weeks.

The spokesperson categorized the move as one of “thousands of tests” Google runs every year to assess possible changes to its Search service. Google has been vocal about its concerns regarding Bill C-18, and the tests are an effort to explore how it will respond to new obligations it may be subject to, should the bill be passed. In addition to continuing to work with the government to address its concerns, the company says it needs to consider how it will adjust its business.

The Online News Act is an effort by legislators to force large tech companies – namely, Google and Meta – to negotiate with news outlets to share revenues generated by online advertising. News outlets have long said that such regulation is needed, as the companies’ control over the ad market has allowed them to command an unfair portion of revenues.

The language of the bill is primarily concerned with platforms that share news with users (such as through Google’s search or Facebook’s news feed) and ads appearing adjacent to this content, as opposed to the companies’ larger networks that also command a high share of revenue from ads on an outlet’s own digital properties.

Policy experts told MiC that this is likely for enforceability reasons – attempts to regulate the larger ad networks of Google and Meta would likely involve anti-trust measures and the co-operation of multiple jurisdictions. However, this does also present an opportunity for large tech companies to escape obligations under the Act: when the Bill was first introduced, a spokesperson for the Minister of Canadian Heritage told MiC that, should a platform no longer share news content or links to news on their properties, the bill would no longer apply to them.

Meta has also said it may pull news content from Facebook in Canada should the Act be passed, a move it briefly followed through on in Australia after similar legislation passed there.

“This didn’t work in Australia, and it won’t work here because Canadians won’t be intimidated,” a spokesperson for Canadian Heritage said in a statement. “At the end of the day, all we’re asking the tech giants to do is compensate journalists when they use their work. Canadians need to have access to quality, fact-based news at the local and national levels, and that’s why we introduced the Online News Act. Tech giants need to be more transparent and accountable to Canadians.”

Bill C-18 was passed by the House of Commons in December, and began its second reading in the Senate earlier this month. Google’s concerns with the bill – expressed both in blog posts and testimony before a House of Commons committee – have included the potential for it to contribute to the spread of misinformation, the fact that it will favour larger news organizations and the impact it could have on how Canadians use its services. Company executives said during committee testimony that one alternative measure they would prefer would be paying into a fund that would then be distributed to news outlets, similar to various other media funds that already exist in Canada.