Meta is now blocking Canadians from accessing news on Facebook and Instagram.
Facebook and Instagram to Cut Off News Access in Canada
In the coming weeks, Canadians will no longer have access to news on Facebook and Instagram. Meta, the parent company of these platforms, announced on Tuesday that it is being forced to make this tough decision due to what it calls a ”fundamentally flawed” law.
The Online News Act, passed by Canada’s leftist legislature earlier this summer, requires Big Tech companies to negotiate agreements with Canadian news outlets and pay them for the news content shared on social media platforms, as reported by Reuters. Meta spokesman Andy Stone criticized the law in a tweet, stating that ending news access on their platforms was the only option.
Stone said, “Today we’ve begun the process of ending news availability in Canada. Changes will roll out over a few weeks. As we’ve always said, the law is based on a fundamentally flawed premise. And, regrettably, the only way we can reasonably comply is to end news availability in Canada.”
This move by Meta and Google to block news access in Canada is part of a global trend to make Big Tech companies pay for news shared on their platforms. Australia passed a similar law in 2021, and France and Spain also have social media news laws in place, according to Reuters.
The trend is now reaching the United States, as lawmakers in California have advanced a bill mirroring Canada’s Online News Act. Meta has threatened to block news in California if the bill, known as the “Journalism Preservation Act,” becomes law.
Stone stated, “If the Journalism Preservation Act passes, we will be forced to remove news from Facebook and Instagram, rather than pay into a slush fund that primarily benefits big, out-of-state media companies under the guise of aiding California publishers. The bill fails to recognize that publishers and broadcasters put their content on our platform themselves and that substantial consolidation in California’s local news industry came over 15 years ago, well before Facebook was widely used.”
In Canada, Meta argued that news articles make up less than 3% of the content in users’ feeds and claimed that news lacks economic value. However, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau strongly disagreed, stating that Meta’s argument was “not just flawed, but dangerous to our democracy and economy.” Trudeau also accused the social media giant of being “deeply irresponsible and out of touch.”
Google also expressed its concerns about Canada’s law, noting that it is even broader than those passed in Australia and Europe. The law can apply to outlets that do not produce news. In response, Google announced that it will be removing links to Canadian news from its Search, News, and Discover products, and will no longer operate Google News Showcase in Canada.
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