Headline Roundup • June 23rd, 2023
Facebook and Instagram to Restrict News Sharing in Canada After New Media Law
World,Media Industry,Technology,Big Tech,Facebook,Meta,Instagram,Google,Social Media,Business,Canada
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Meta said it would restrict content from news outlets on Facebook and Instagram to comply with a new Canadian media law.
Canada’s New Law: The law, called the Online News Act, will make tech companies pay fees for content from domestic news organizations posted on their platforms. Supporters hope the law will help the struggling local news industry, which has lost hundreds of small outlets in recent decades. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said companies like Meta “would rather cut off Canadians’ access to local news than pay their fair share.”
Meta’s Response:In a statement, Meta said, “We have repeatedly shared that in order to comply with Bill C-18, passed today in Parliament, content from news outlets, including news publishers and broadcasters, will no longer be available to people accessing our platforms in Canada.” Google also criticized the law as “unworkable.”
For Context: Australia passed a similar law in 2021, prompting a similar response from Meta, although the social media giant later agreed to pay for Australian news.
How the Media Covered It: Coverage was common across the spectrum, generally using similar language and framing to describe the story.
Featured Coverage of this Story
AP Photo/Thibault Camus / AP Newsroom
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, will remove news content for its Canadian users after a new law in Canada requires the company to pay media outlets for articles shared on the platforms.
Meta confirmed in a statement to The Associated Press Thursday that it intends to comply with the Online News Act, but it will pull local news from its sites for Canadian users before it takes effect.
"We have repeatedly shared that in order to comply with Bill C-18, which was passed today in Parliament, content from news...
iStock / Getty Images Plus
Yesterday, Canada passed its Online News Act, which requires tech companies to negotiate content deals with news publishers and pay news outlets for links shared on their platforms. As Meta threatened back in March, it promptly announced yesterday that it will be quickly ending news access on Facebook and Instagram in response to the law, Reuters reported.
"Today, we are confirming that news availability will be ended on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada prior to the Online News Act taking effect," Meta's statement said.
According to The New York Times,...
Dado Ruvic/Reuters
The social media giant Meta has confirmed that it will end access to news on its social media sites for all Canadian users before Bill C-18, the Online News Act, comes into force.
The tech company made the announcement on Thursday, the same day the bill received royal assent. The law will force tech giants like Meta and Google to pay news outlets for posting their journalism on their platforms.
Meta said it will begin to block news for Canadian users over the next few months and that the change will not...
