Meta’s fighting against Canada’s law requiring it to negotiate with, and pay, news publishers for content. Meta is blocking all news content on Facebook and Instagram in Canada within the next few weeks.
Canada’s Online News Act is stringent. Blocking doesn’t only involve content posted by news publishers; it also applies to individuals that try to share a link on Facebook that came from a Canadian source. The recipient won’t be able to view the content.
Twitter’s take is that the Canadian government’s legislation is based on Meta benefitting unfairly from news content shared. Twitter says that news organizations do benefit from sharing information on platforms—people don’t come to Facebook and Instagram for news.
After the law passed, Meta and Google said they would block Canadians’ access to news on their platforms, and both conducted trial runs starting months ago with limited numbers of users.
Expect lots of pushback in the form of fights and mudslinging. Pass the popcorn.
