Canada’s news industry body supports Google on news rules.

A Canadian news industry body on Thursday backed some of Google’s concerns about a new law that would require major Internet companies to share advertising revenue with news publishers in the country.

News Media Canada (NMC), which represents Canada’s top newspapers, including the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star, said Alphabet’s Google had “expressed in good faith legitimate concerns” to the Canadian government about law enforcement. Therefore, the rules should be resolved by finalizing them. .

“We agree with many of the issues they raise,” NMC Chief Executive Officer Paul Deegan said in a statement first reported by the Globe.

The Online News Act, part of a global trend to pay internet companies for news, was passed by the Canadian parliament in June and the government is finalizing the rules, which are expected to be released by a December 19 deadline. Is.

Canada tried to address tech companies’ concerns about the law in draft rules released in September, but Google and meta-platforms META.O weren’t convinced.

Google has expressed concerns about the law establishing links to news stories as a basis for payment, saying the proposed regulations would impose potentially unlimited liability on the company and how it supports the news industry. Can’t solve problems like its limitations.

“We agree that there should be a strong ceiling rather than a floor on fiscal responsibility,” Deegan said in the statement.

Deegan said the NMC also agrees with Google that eligible news publishers must have an online presence and that non-monetary measures such as training and product can be part of the compensation.

“We will continue to engage those with questions or concerns, including tech giants,” Heritage Minister Pascal Saint-Onge said in a statement, adding that submissions received during public consultations for the Ottawa draft rules Will review.

Google said in its submission to the consultation: “While the government has publicly expressed its confidence that our concerns can be addressed through the regulatory process, unfortunately the draft regulations address key structural issues with the Act. have failed to do.”

“By establishing links to news sites as the basis for payment, the Act fails to recognize that the public’s ability to freely find and share links to news content online is a violation of free expression.” , is critical to access to information, freedom of the press, and an informed citizenry,” the company said in an 11-page document released last week.