Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives at federal court in San Jose, California, on December 20, 2022.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Meta has announced its decision to block access to news on Facebook and Instagram in Canada. This comes after the Canadian federal government passed the Online News Act, also known as Bill C-18. The law requires tech companies to pay content fees to domestic media outlets.
“We have repeatedly informed that, to comply with Bill C-18, content from news outlets, including news publishers and broadcasters, will no longer be available to users in Canada,” said Meta, the parent company of Facebook, in a statement released on Thursday.
Meta added that it is currently conducting several weeks of product tests to implement the changes in Canada. These tests aim to gradually phase out news availability on their platforms following the government’s decision.
This move by Meta follows a similar situation in Australia, where a comparable law was passed last year. The law required digital platforms like Facebook and Google to pay domestic media outlets for linking to their content in search results or feeds. In response, Meta adopted a similar approach in Australia, blocking users from accessing or sharing news content on Facebook and even reportedly blocking some pages related to hospitals and emergency services.
However, within a week, Meta reached an agreement with the Australian government. Amendments were made to the law, allowing tech companies two months to negotiate with media outlets. Ultimately, Meta reversed its decision and news content was reinstated on their platforms.
Recently, lawmakers in California have introduced a bipartisan bill that proposes requiring digital platforms to compensate news outlets for the content they host. If passed into law, California would become the first U.S. state to implement such a requirement. The legislation would apply to online platforms with at least 50 million monthly active users in the U.S., a billion worldwide active users, or U.S. net annual sales or market cap over $550 billion.
Meta has stated that it would remove news from Facebook and Instagram if the California law is passed, similar to its current approach in Canada.
“While these product tests are temporary, our intention is to permanently end the availability of news content in Canada following the passage of Bill C-18,” Meta stated in their announcement.
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