Meta removes News from Canadian Facebook and Instagram

Earlier this month, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, announced its plan to remove all news content from FB and Instagram in Canada if the proposed Online News Act was passed by the government. On Thursday, the Canadian Parliament passed the act, and Meta quickly confirmed that it would follow through on its promise.

“Today, we are confirming that the availability of news on Facebook and Instagram will end for all users in Canada prior to the enactment of the Online News Act (Bill C-18),” the company wrote. “We have repeatedly said that in order to comply with Bill C-18, which passed Parliament today, content from news organizations, including news publishers and broadcasters, will no longer be available to Canadians on our platforms.”

The Online News Act was designed to address the steep decline in advertising revenue for Canadian news organizations over the past two decades. It does so by requiring major tech companies like Google and Meta to negotiate compensation plans with these outlets to feature these stories on their platforms.

Earlier in June, Meta announced that it was developing a software-based solution to its C-18 problem. As of Thursday, these actions will continue “and currently affect a small percentage of users in Canada.” In addition to the loss of news functions, Meta assures its users that it will not affect others’ Facebook experience.

This isn’t the first time Meta has picked up his toys and gone home in response to a government surveillance effort. In 2021, the company removed news features from the Australian market after the country passed similar compensation legislation – even going so far as to prevent publishers from linking to their posts on social media. The move negatively affected the pages of several Australian government agencies and numerous non-profit organizations in the region before it was withdrawn.

“This legislation sets a precedent where the government decides who enters into these news content contracts and ultimately how much the party that already gets value from the free service gets paid,” William Easton, Facebook’s CEO of Australia and New Zealand, wrote. in a blog post at the time. “We are now prioritizing investment in other countries as part of our plans to invest in new licensing news programs and experiences.”

Google, which would also be affected by the implementation of the bill, has yet to officially announce plans to cut service in the country. It began testing ways to block access to news in Canada in February.