Google and the Canadian government came to an agreement this week under the Online News Act, or Bill C-18, news which may benefit community radio stations like Stoke FM.

The intent of the Online News Act is to have tech giants that are worth $1 billion to compensate Canadian media organization for the ad revenue the stories generate.

The federal government passed Bill C-18 in June, and shortly after Meta blocked Canadians from viewing news content on Facebook and Instagram, and blocked Canadian media organizations from posting to their social media sites on Facebook and Instagram. That's because Meta did not want to pay for the news content on their sites. It is continuing its opposition by blocking Canadian news on its platforms which include Facebook and Instagram.

On Wednesday, an agreement with Google was announced whereby Google will pay Canadian media organizations $100 million to host news content. It's unclear at this point how the money will be distributed.

"It's very good news," said Barry Rooke, the executive director of the National Campus and Community Radio Association.

Stoke FM News and Barry Rooke explore what the Google announcement means to campus and community radio.

Click below for the radio story: