Tech giant Meta would block Canadian news content from being shared on Facebook and Instagram if Bill C-18 were passed in its current form.
Posted 10:16am Updated 1:55pm
The news was reported by The Globe and Mail on Saturday, which was confirmed by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
“If the Online News Act is passed in its current form, we will end the availability of news content to Canadians on Facebook and Instagram,” spokeswoman Lisa Laventure said in a statement provided to La Presse.
The federal government’s online news law would force digital platforms like Facebook and Google to negotiate fair revenue sharing with the news media.
“A legal framework that forces us to pay for links or content that we don’t post and that isn’t why the vast majority of people use our platforms is neither viable nor feasible,” Meta said.
The company argues that posts with links to news articles “represent less than 3% of what people see on their Facebook newsfeed” and aren’t a significant source of revenue.
Last year, the tech giant threatened to stop sharing Canadian news content on its platform if it were accepted.
Contrary to the bill, Google also recently decided to restrict access to news to 4% of its users in Canada before backing out on Friday. Canadian officials for the web search giant have repeatedly tried to dodge questions from elected officials who couldn’t hide their desperation.
Journalism professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal, Jean-Hugues Roy, doesn’t take Meta’s new intimidation maneuver seriously.
“They will do everything to intimidate parliamentarians into not passing the law,” says the expert, who has examined media content on Facebook.
Recalling that the social network had temporarily blocked the exchange of messages in Australia in retaliation for a similar law, in 2021 an agreement had to be reached with the Australian government. The country was then the first in the world to force web giants to pay royalties to the news media.
This time Meta is threatening to limit Canadian journalistic content on its platforms if Bill C-18 is passed, which would make it obsolete, explains Mr. Roy. “It wouldn’t be more logical to ask Meta to share his income,” he explains.
According to him, the digital company would “shoot itself in the foot” by carrying out his threat. According to studies he conducted, Canadian media brings in Meta an average of $200 million annually.
“They say they don’t need it. I don’t buy the argument. if there is more [de contenu journalistique]it will deprive value,” says the professor.