Alphabet's Google will stop blocking news articles from the search results of some Canadian users on March 16, according to a company executive before a Canadian parliamentary committee investigating the technology company.

Last month, Google began testing limited censorship of the news as a potential response to the Canadian government's bill aimed at forcing online platforms to pay Canadian publishers for news content.

Google claimed the test is similar to thousands of other product tests the company regularly conducts.

The tests, which the company says affected less than 4 percent of Canadian users, started on February 9 and were scheduled to run for five weeks according to Gadget 365.

Speaking to the parliamentary committee investigating the tests, Google's Public Policy Manager Jason Kee confirmed the tests will end next week.

Kee said, "I want to emphasize that these are just tests. No decisions have been made about product changes."

Last month, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it was a "serious mistake" for Google to block news content in response to the "Online News Act," a government bill that established rules for platforms like Meta's Facebook and Google to negotiate commercial deals and pay news publishers.

He said at the time: "I was shocked that Google decided it preferred to block Canadians from accessing the news rather than paying journalists for the work they do."

During the session, questions were raised about local press outlets, such as the 13-14 local weekly newspapers deputy Martin Shields had during his leadership.

Shields told Sabrina Geremia, head of Google Canada: "The ban is something that I think annoys the locals, the grassroots people. The unintended consequences of this move, I don't think it's a way to negotiate and I think it was a mistake on your part." 

Geremia said that Google is a contributor to the news in Canada, leading 3.6 billion free visits from Canadians clicking through to news sites, and has current licensing agreements with more than 150 publications from coast to coast.

Facebook also raised concerns about the legislation and warned it might have to block sharing news on its platform.

Canada's news media industry has asked the government for more regulatory measures on technology companies to allow the industry to compensate for the financial losses it has suffered in years where tech giants steadily gained a larger share of ad revenue.

Ottawa's proposal resembles a landmark law passed by Australia in 2021, which also triggered threats from Google and Facebook to scale back their services. Both reached deals with Australian media companies after a series of amendments to the legislation were offered.