After the Canadian Parliament passed the proposed Online News Act, Facebook’s parent company, Meta, swiftly confirmed its intention to remove all news content from its platforms in Canada. Meta had previously warned of this consequence in a blog post earlier this month. Within hours of the bill’s passing, Meta officially announced that news availability would cease on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada prior to the Online News Act (Bill C-18) taking effect.
In a statement, Meta stated, “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.”
The Online News Act aims to address the significant decline in advertising revenue experienced by Canadian news organizations over the past two decades. The legislation mandates that large tech companies such as Google and Meta negotiate reimbursement plans with these news outlets for featuring their stories on their respective platforms.
Earlier in June, Meta had announced its efforts to develop a software-based solution to address the challenges posed by C-18. As of Thursday, these efforts are still ongoing and currently impact only a small percentage of users in Canada. Meta assures users that aside from the loss of news functionality, no other aspects of the Facebook experience will be affected.
Canada’s parliament approved legislation to compel digital companies to compensate domestic media outlets for links to their articles https://t.co/rxAaNkhWyv
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) June 22, 2023
This is not the first instance of Meta taking such action in response to government oversight. In 2021, the company removed its news features from the Australian market after the country passed similar legislation related to compensation. Facebook went as far as preventing publishers from linking their posts on the platform, negatively impacting the pages of Australian government agencies and numerous nonprofit organizations. However, this decision was later reversed.
William Easton, Facebook’s managing director for Australia and New Zealand, expressed concerns about the legislation, stating, “This legislation sets a precedent where the government decides who enters into these news content agreements, and ultimately, how much the party that already receives value from the free service gets paid. We will now prioritize investments in other countries, as part of our plans to invest in new licensing news programs and experiences.”
While Google would also be affected by the implementation of the Online News Act, the company has not yet announced any plans to officially discontinue its services in Canada. However, Google began testing methods to block news access in the country as early as February.
The impact of Meta’s decision to remove news content from its platforms in Canada, and the potential repercussions on the media landscape, remains to be seen. As the industry adapts to new regulations, stakeholders will closely monitor how news organizations, tech companies, and government entities navigate this evolving landscape.
