Some Instagram users are starting to be blocked from seeing Canadian news content on some accounts after the passing of the federal government’s online news bill.
On Tuesday, some Instagram users reported they were unable to see stories on some Canadian news outlet’s Instagram pages including, The Brandon Gonez Show, CTV News and Global News.
Users reported seeing a message when visiting those accounts that said, “People in Canada can’t see this content” in bold. Below it continues to say, “In response to Canadian government legislation, news content can’t be viewed in Canada.”
The news accounts are being blocked by Meta in response to the Canadian government’s passing of Bill C-18. The recently passed legislation requires media giants, like Meta and Google, to pay Canadian news publishers for content.
According to the federal government, Bill C-18 will regulate digital platforms that act as intermediaries in Canada’s news media ecosystem. The bill enforces media conglomerates to pay Canadian media companies for linking or otherwise repurposing their content online.
“The Bill introduces a new bargaining framework intended to support news businesses to secure fair compensation when their news content is made available by dominant digital news intermediaries and generates economic gain,” the government said in a statement last month.
Meta and Google spoke against the bill before it was passed last month, with Meta saying it would ban news sharing on its platforms in Canada if the bill passes. Both tech companies also conducted experimental news filtration tests on a select number of Canadians before the bill was passed.
Now Toronto and The Brandon Gonez Show are subsidiaries of Gonez Media Inc.
