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Parent company of Facebook, Instagram prepares to temporarily block news content for some Canadians

FILE-Attendees visit the Meta booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023 in San Francisco, Wednesday, March 22, 2023. European Union hits Facebook parent Meta with record $1.3 billion fine over transfers of user data to US. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

Meta is preparing tests on its platforms Facebook and Instagram that will temporarily block some users from news content in Canada, in response to the Online News Act that could soon be passed into law.

The legislation, known as Bill C-18, is currently being studied by the Senate and was first tabled in June 2022. The bill would require media giants, like Meta and Google, to pay Canadian news publishers for content. However, Meta has chosen to permanently end the availability of news content in Canada if the bill passes. 

WHAT IS BILL C-18?

According to the federal government, Bill C-18 will regulate digital platforms that act as intermediaries in Canada’s news media ecosystem. 

“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.

“It seeks to support balanced negotiations between the businesses that operate dominant digital news intermediaries and the businesses responsible for the news outlets that produce this news content,” it continued.

This bill would see media conglomerates paying Canadian media companies for linking or otherwise repurposing their content online. 

In response, Meta’s President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg claims the company does not benefit unfairly from people sharing links to news content on its platform, according to a media release back on May 8. 

“Meta, by contrast, doesn’t solicit, need or collect content from news websites to put on our services. Our users – and in this case news publishers – choose to share it themselves. Globally, more than 90% of organic views on article links from news publishers are on links posted by the publishers themselves,” he said. 

It is not yet known when exactly the bill could become law, but it could be as soon as this month. 

META’S REACTION

Meta says it’s conducting temporary tests to find an effective product solution before ending news availability entirely in Canada if the Liberal government’s online news act becomes law.

The company says the tests will impact up to five per cent of its 24 million Canadian users. The group of randomly selected users will not be able to view Canadian news content, such as articles, videos and even short-form reels which disappear in 24 hours. The users will be notified if they attempt to share the content and the testing period is expected to last for several weeks. 

“News outlets will continue to have access to their accounts and Pages, and will be able to post news links and content; however, some content will not be viewable in Canada,” Meta said in a statement on Thursday. 

The tech conglomerate stresses that product tests are an important necessity in its approach to product development and is part of its commitment to comply with the Online News Act responsibly and transparently. 

“…The Online News Act is fundamentally flawed legislation that ignores the realities of how our platforms work, the preferences of the people who use them, and the value we provide news publishers. As the Minister of Canadian Heritage has said, how we choose to comply with the legislation is a business decision we must make, and we have made our choice,” Meta said.

Earlier in February, Google also ran a test run where some Canadian users were blocked from viewing news content. 

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