Meta begins blocking Canadian users from accessing news via Facebook

Meta icon on computer screen

The Canadian government quickly condemned the move as “irresponsible” and said it was monitoring developments in Canada, according to Reuters. In a statement the same day, Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge, who oversees the government’s dealings with Meta, said: “This is irresponsible. They would rather block their users from accessing quality local news than pay for news outlets. We will continue to stand our ground. If the government cannot stand up for Canadians against the tech giants, who will?”

The Online News Act, passed by the Canadian parliament, would force platforms like Alphabet — Google's parent company — and Meta to negotiate commercial content deals with news outlets in Canada.

“News organizations voluntarily share content on Facebook and Instagram to expand their audiences and help their bottom lines,” said Rachel Curran, Meta’s head of public policy in Canada. “On the contrary, we know that the people who use our platforms don’t come to us for the news.”

In a campaign against the law, both Meta and Google said in June they would block access to news on their platforms in Canada. Canadian broadcaster CBC also called Meta's move irresponsible and an "abuse of market power."

Canada’s new law is similar to a groundbreaking law Australia passed in 2021. The Australian law prompted threats from Google and Facebook to cut off services, but both companies eventually reached agreements with Australian media companies after changes to the law were introduced.

But Google argues that Canada’s new law goes beyond those enacted in Australia and Europe. Canada requires social platforms to pay for news links displayed in search results and could apply the new law to organizations that don’t produce news.

For its part, Meta says links to articles make up less than 3% of the content on users' feeds and argues that such news lacks economic value.

In May, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that arguments like Meta's were flawed and "dangerous for democracy, for Canada's economy."

According to Tin Tuc Newspaper