Facebook Starts Blocking News in Canada
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Meta has begun to block news content on Facebook and Instagram in Canada, after the country passed legislation requiring tech companies to pay news organizations for hosting their content.
The Details: Canada passed the Online News Act in June, mandating tech platforms to negotiate payments with news companies. Advocates for the law say social media platforms profit off of news organizations without compensating them properly. Opponents, like Meta, say it exposes them to too much financial liability.
Key Quotes: "The legislation is based on the incorrect premise that Meta benefits unfairly from news content shared on our platforms, when the reverse is true," a blog post from Meta said. "News outlets voluntarily share content on Facebook and Instagram to expand their audiences and help their bottom line." Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said Meta "would rather block their users from accessing good quality and local news instead of paying their fair share to news organizations."
For Context: Australia passed a very similar law in 2021, and Facebook banned users there from viewing news content before reaching agreements with several publishers.
How the Media Covered It: Sources across the spectrum covered the news similarly, with many speculating about potential copycat legislation in the United States.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
Meta begins blocking news access on its platforms in Canada
Meta has begun to remove news content from Facebook and Instagram in Canada, the social media giant said Tuesday, in response to recently passed legislation in the country that requires tech companies to negotiate payments to news organizations for hosting their content.
As a result of the move — which Meta had previously said would occur before the law takes effect — Meta’s Canadian users will no longer be able to click on links to news articles posted to Facebook and Instagram.
The changes began Tuesday and will roll out...
From the Center
Why Facebook is blocking news in Canada, and Google may be next
Meta is no longer displaying traditional media outlets on its sites in Canada as of Tuesday, after the country required the platforms to pay news outlets, and Google is set to follow.
Canada passed the Online News Act in June, requiring social media platforms to pay news outlets to use their content. Advocates for the legislation argued that platforms like Facebook and Instagram used news articles to garner their own ad revenue and that the media outlets making the content weren’t being adequately compensated.
Instead of paying the outlets, Meta chose...
From the Right
Meta begins blocking news on Facebook, Instagram in Canada
Meta said it started blocking news content on Facebook and Instagram in Canada over a law directing Big Tech companies to pay media outlets for news used on their platforms.
The escalating feud over digital news up north coincides with Meta‘s fight against antitrust journalism legislation becoming law in the U.S. that has stalled in Congress.
After Canada’s Legislature passed the Online News Act this year, Meta said it would restrict the flow of news across its platforms. The Big Tech company said Tuesday it will make good on its threat.
“In order to comply with...
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