maaxx.ca

OTTAWA – Meta ended the availability of information services for Facebook and Instagram users on Canada starting August 1, 2023. Meta's decision to block news-related content for Canadian users is a response to the Online News Act, which was passed by the Canadian Parliament in June 2023.

Following in the footsteps of similar laws proposed in Australia and California, the Online News Act (Bill C-18) “guarantees equitable revenue sharing between digital platforms and media outlets.” In other words, the Canadian government wants tech giants like Meta and Google to pay Canadian media outlets to generate valuable traffic and profit from posts published on their sites.

Local newsrooms in particular have been deeply affected by social media's disruption of traditional news distribution models. In response, Meta said, noting that the law “rests on the false premise that Meta unfairly benefits from news content shared on our platform, when in fact the opposite is true.”

Meta had threatened to block information in Canada instead of engaging with Canadian lawmakers and instead decided to comply with the law by completely removing access to information on its platform. Canadian journalists and online media outlets began reporting on the impact of Meta's decision.

Local newsrooms that were previously vulnerable to changes to Meta's publishing policies now have no visibility on the platform. “This fight with Meta makes things even more difficult. Our livelihoods are at stake,” tweeted Christopher Curtis, one of the founders of a newsletter called The Rover, quoted on the mashable page, Wednesday (8/02 /2023).

Accounts for Cult MTL and Indigenous writer Anna Mary McKenzie also tweeted about their content being blocked. This happened after Meta blocked information through Facebook and Instagram in Canada.

(wib)