The action is taken in response to Canadian law mandating internet giants to compensate news publishers
On Tuesday, Meta announced the initiation of steps to terminate news access on Facebook and Instagram for all Canadian users. This decision is a response to the legislation in the country mandating internet giants to compensate news publishers.
Meta’s communications director, Andy Stone, stated that the changes will be implemented gradually in the upcoming weeks.
Canada’s heritage minister, Pascale St-Onge, responsible for the government’s interactions with Meta, criticized the move a
s irresponsible. In a statement on Tuesday, St-Onge expressed that Meta prefers blocking user access to reputable local news rather than fairly compensating news organizations. She affirmed the government’s commitment to stand up for Canadians against tech giants, emphasizing the importance of taking a firm stance in such matters.
CBC, Canada’s public broadcast, also criticized Meta’s move, deeming it irresponsible and an abuse of market power.
The Canadian parliament passed the Online News Act, which compels platforms like Alphabet (Google’s parent company) and Meta to negotiate commercial agreements with Canadian news publishers for using their content.
This legislation reflects a larger global trend where governments are pushing tech firms to pay for news. Canada’s law resembles a significant Australian law enacted in 2021, which resulted in threats from Google and Facebook to limit their services. Eventually, both companies reached agreements with Australian media companies after amendments were made to the legislation.
In the US, California has also been contemplating a similar law. In this scenario, Meta has issued a threat to cease services in the state if the legislation is implemented.
Regarding the Canadian law, Google has asserted that it is broader compared to those introduced in Australia and Europe. The Canadian law sets a price on news story links displayed in search results and may apply to outlets that do not produce news.
Meta has stated that news article links constitute less than 3% of the content in their users’ feeds and has argued that news lacks economic value.
In response to this, Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, expressed in May that such an argument is flawed and “dangerous to our democracy and economy
