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In a televised press conference on Monday (8/21), Trudeau stressed that Meta’s decision to block national news showed the company’s priority over profits, which he saw as ignoring security and good -being people who needed information, in the midst of widespread fires in his country.

“Facebook is putting corporate profits ahead of people’s safety,” Trudeau joked during a televised news conference in the Atlantic province of Prince Edward Island.

Federal Liberal cabinet ministers also criticized the news ban, calling it reckless and irresponsible by Facebook’s parent company.

These criticisms spread after residents displaced by the fires complained about the same thing, saying the blocking of Canadian sites from the Facebook platform had hampered their ability to share important information about the ongoing emergency.

Quote WA today Tuesday (8/22), in a severe weather situation, where wildfires are increasingly out of control, news and information would have become increasingly important for Canadian society.

For this reason, Trudeau stressed that Canadians must get more from big companies like Meta, which earn a lot of revenue from this country.

“It’s time for us to expect more from companies like Facebook that generate billions of dollars from Canadians,” Trudeau added.

The wildfire crisis gripping Canada is currently a major concern, with more than 35,000 people having been evacuated from their homes due to the flames. Climate change would be one of the main factors exacerbating this situation.

To date, Meta has not provided an official response to the criticisms made by the Canadian government.

However, it is known that the blocking of the Ottawa news site took place after the country’s government created an online news law that would force Facebook to pay media companies for every article published on its platform, a regulation that the Meta company rejected.

Similar measures have already been implemented in Australia, where Meta blocked access to news and government in response to the Media Bargaining Code implemented by the Australian government, which was deemed detrimental to the platform.