Meta announced that it would begin limiting access to its news on Facebook and Instagram for Canadian users after parliament approved contentious online news legislation.
According to BBC News, the Online News Act mandates that large platforms pay news publishers for information posted on their platforms. The legislation will become law in about six months.
In 2021, as a result of a similar regulation, Australian Facebook users were blocked from reading or posting news stories. However, Facebook's news material was made available again after discussions with the government resulted in changes.
Notably, Meta and Google have both been conducting trials in which users in Canada have restricted access to news content.
Impact of Passing the Online News Act
The Canadian Senate unanimously approved the Online News Act on Thursday, June 22, which establishes regulations regulating commercial partnerships and payment to news organizations from platforms like Meta and Google.
Meta has criticized the measure, calling it "fundamentally flawed legislation that ignores the realities of how our platforms work."
On Thursday, the company said that all Canadian users would lose access to news on Facebook and Instagram once the law went into force.
According to a statement sent to Reuters by a representative of Meta in March, the company believes that "a legislative framework that compels us to pay for links or content that we do not post, and which are not the reason the vast majority of people use our platforms, is neither sustainable nor workable."
The tech giant assured Canadian users that this update would not affect their access to any other services.
Meanwhile, Google said it wanted to cooperate with the government to find a path forward after calling the measure "unworkable" in its current form.
Canada's government claims the online news bill is essential to ensuring that all Canadians have access to digital news and to helping financially-strapped news outlets get enough payment for what users post and share.
An independent parliament budget watchdog predicted that news organizations might collect around C$329 million ($250 million) a year from digital platforms after considering the effects of the measure.
A Win for Media Industry Organizations
Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez told Reuters earlier this month that the internet giants' move to remove news from their platforms posed an unacceptable and threatening danger to society.
Rodriguez spoke with representatives from both Google and Facebook this week, according to a statement released by his office on Thursday. Further negotiations are scheduled, but the government remains committed to enforcing the measure.
He said, "If the government can't stand up for Canadians against tech giants, who will?"
The bill's enactment was celebrated by media industry organizations as a victory for more equitable market conditions.
"Real journalism, created by real journalists, continues to be demanded by Canadians and is vital to our democracy, but it costs real money," Paul Deegan, president, and chief executive officer of News Media Canada, said in a statement.
