Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party of Canada continue to buy ads on Facebook and Instagram, even though their government has stopped doing so in solidarity with the news media.
• Also read: After Quebec, British Columbia joins the meta-boycott
• Also read: The Quebec Chamber of Commerce and Industry is boycotting Meta
• Also read: Half of Canadians believe Ottawa should step away from Google and Facebook
“It is still surprising that the PM and Liberal Party sides are not following the same direction as their government. It is still them who are in power, so the boots must follow the consequences,” responds Bruno Guglielminetti, digital communications consultant.
According to an audit by the Journal, the Liberal Party of Canada has bought and started running 13 new social media ads from Meta since the Canadian minority government it controls stopped ads on the web giant on July 5.
Screenshot/Meta
Justin Trudeau’s meta account still has 26 active ads, most of which have been running since June.
However, the other political parties that had declared their solidarity with the information media no longer engage in active public relations work. These include the Bloc Québécois and the NDP at the federal level.
They had joined the Ottawa-initiated wave of boycotts against Meta to support the news media in the wake of Bill C-18.
The latter would force web giants to share their earnings with Canadian media. Instead of complying, Meta chose to ban journalistic content from its platforms.
- Listen to the interview with Martin Champoux, cultural critic and Bloc Québécois MP for Drummond, above QUB radio :
On the Quebec side, the four main parties, namely the Coalition Avenir Québec, the Liberal Party of Quebec, the Parti Québécois and Québec solidaire, stopped broadcasting advertisements on Meta.
Mr. Guglielminetti believes that this situation shows that organizations today need the metas of this world to be visible and that it is difficult for them to evade them.
“More than 80% of the population is present here and they strive for the greatest visibility. It’s no longer on TV, on the radio, or in the newspapers.
“It kind of hurts them not to be there, but it’s the price they have to pay if they really want to be a role model for what they represent,” the expert continues.
This can be particularly damaging to politicians who rely on visibility to advance their ideas.
“While the government does not speak, it is the oppositions that speak out, and the same goes for information.” It is those who do not believe in the media who take the place of the media on social networks.
“A Drop in the Ocean”
However, this boycott movement has “no impact” on Meta’s finances, stresses Mr. Guglielminetti.
“Quebec, we’re a drop in the bucket of meta-revenues,” he said, noting that the rest of Canada, with the exception of British Columbia, has hardly followed suit.
- An earlier version of this text incorrectly claimed that Quebec City bought new ads from Meta after announcing it would stop buying from the company. However, the ads in question were purchased prior to the city’s announcement. We apologize.
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