Meta under pressure for ‘bullying’ Canadian government and outlets with news ban
Christopher Hutton
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Meta could lose millions of dollars in revenue as Canadian government officials and media outlets withhold advertising from the platform in response to its decision to block links to local news stories.
Government agencies in Canada stopped purchasing ads from Facebook, Instagram, and Google in protest of the social platforms’ decision to stop sharing links to Canadian news outlets within the country. The news ban was in response to Canadian lawmakers passing the Online News Act, legislation forcing the platforms to pay news outlets compensation for distributing their content.
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“The sudden movement by advertisers, including the federal, Quebec, British Columbia governments as well as some leading Canadian businesses, to pull advertising from Meta could well cost the company more than they would have to pay publishers under the Online News Act,” News Media Canada CEO Paul Deegan told the Washington Examiner. NWC is a trade association for Canadian newspapers.
“These foreign web giants use their dominant positions in digital advertising to take tens of billions out of the Canadian economy without giving back,” Canadian Association of Broadcasters President Kevin Desjardins said in a statement. “We call on both Google and Meta to act responsibly and to stop allowing misinformation and disinformation to flourish by deliberately damaging access to high-quality, professional journalism.”
Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez called Meta’s tactics a “very bully approach,” saying the company failed to recognize Canada’s sovereignty when it decided to bar news. “We can’t have them coming here and telling us what to do; we need these big players to start contributing their fair share.”
Rodriguez estimated that Meta’s decision to stop showing links to Canadian news outlets would cost the company $7.54 million annually.
Google initially joined Meta in barring access to news in protest of the Online News Act. The search eventually caved and is in negotiations with the Canadian government to resolve the matter, according to Rodriguez.
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Congress is considering a similar bill in the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act. The bill was recently passed by committee and is waiting to be considered by the Senate. It is expected to run into resistance in the House, as Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) emphasized that the bill would be “dead on the floor.”
Meta banned sharing and viewing news stories in Australia after the country passed a law requiring the Big Tech giant to pay news outlets for their content. The ban was reversed within days after international pressure.