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Meta Platforms Inc. said the past weekend that it would block news content on its Facebook and Instagram in Canada if the country's Online News Act is approved in its current form. The company’s decision comes a few weeks after Google started testing limited news censorship as a response to the bill that officials are trying to pass.
As per, Reuters, the "Online News Act," which is also known as the House of Commons bill C-18 was revealed in April 2022. Its rules were made to force leading tech platforms such as Meta and Google to arrange commercial deals and pay news publishers for their content that appears on social media platforms.
Moreover, the country’s news media industry asked the Canadian government to impose more regulations on tech companies so they can recover financial losses in the years when tech firms continuously gain a higher market share of advertising.
In response to the requests of the media, Meta said that if the proposed bill passes, Facebook or Instagram users in Canada will no longer be given access to news content on the site. It was noted that Facebook already said last year that it may be forced to shut off news-sharing on its platform due to the said legislation.
"A legislative framework that compels us to pay for links or content that we do not post, and which are not the reason the vast majority of people use our platforms, is neither sustainable nor workable," Meta’s spokeswoman, Lisa Laventure, explained about the bill via email.
Canada’s CBC News reported that major media groups in Canada and the federal Liberal government had expressed support for Bill C-18. They said it will balance out the playing field for news outlets that compete with tech companies for advertising dollars.
"Once again, it is disappointing to see that Facebook has resorted to threats instead of working with the Canadian government in good faith," Canada’s Heritage Minister, Pablo Rodriguez, said in a statement. "This tactic did not work in Australia and it won't work here."
Photo by: Dima Solomin/Unsplash
