Canadians will no longer have access to news stories on Facebook, Instagram: Meta

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Canada (AA) – Meta is ending Canadian access to news stories on Facebook and Instagram after the passage of a law forcing the media giant to pay news outlets for articles it uses, the company announced Thursday.

Bill C-18 – the Online News Act – passed the Canadian House of Commons and Senate and will soon receive Royal Assent, at which point it will become law. Meta warned it would stop carrying news stories if the bill came into effect.

"We have repeatedly shared that in order to comply with Bill C-18 … content from news outlets, including news publishers and broadcasters, will no longer be available to people accessing our platforms in Canada," said Meta in a statement.

Canadians could also lose news content from Google searches if the search engine giant follows Meta’s lead. Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriquez is said to be in talks with Google on Thursday to try to stave off that happening, reported the National Post.

The revenue-sharing provisions of Bill C-18 do not apply if Meta and Google remove news content. But Rodriquez said Meta did not have to block news content at this time because the bill has not had Royal Assent. The Canadian government said it is only fair for big social media giants to pay part of the revenues they earn from news content picked up from news outlets.

"Facebook knows very well that they have no obligations under the act right now," said Rodriquez on Twitter. "Following Royal Assent of Bill #C18, the Government will engage in a regulatory and implementation process. If the Government can’t stand up for Canadians against tech giants, who will?".