Facebook and Instagram stop news distribution in Canada, protest against bill ``divide revenue when news is posted''

Following the passage of Bill C-18, Canada's online communications bill, which requires communication platforms that publish news to share revenues with news providers, Meta has expanded all news content on Facebook and Instagram. started blocking.

Facebook and Instagram start blocking news in Canada - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/1/23815994/meta-facebook-instagram-canada-news-act-blocking

'Bill C-18' designates online communication platforms, such as search engines and social media services that make news content produced by news organizations available to people in Canada, as 'digital news intermediaries.' and requires these intermediaries to deal fairly and in good faith with news providers such as newspapers.

The Canadian government said, “This law will increase fairness, strengthen the sustainability of news providers, and level the playing field between news providers and platforms. It will encourage voluntary commercial agreements between publishers and platforms.' However, the legislation will allow news providers to demand publication fees from platforms, so Meta, Google, etc. 's 'digital news intermediaries' were pushing back.

Meta opposes the Canadian bill ``If you publish news, divide the revenue''-GIGAZINE

Meta, which had publicly declared that it would ``stop news distribution in Canada,'' finally started blocking all news content on Facebook and Instagram around August 1, 2023. This impact extends not only to news providers who have accounts on the platform, but also to general users, and it is reported that ``Canadians cannot confirm links shared by foreign users''. increase.

Scary times. I'm no longer able to see the @IndigiNewsMedia page or stories on @instagram . #BillC18 isn't even in full force yet, and Meta and Google have started the blocking process. My heart is broken b/c I worked really hard on two stories last week and there are folks who… pic.twitter.com/8WG0RLPH2x

—Anna Mary Mckenzie (@legally_cree) July 31, 2023

Meta called the news removal a 'business decision' and said it chose to block the news to comply with the law. Meta was also concerned about how the law was enacted, claiming that ``new laws have been enacted based on the false premise that we are unfairly profiting from news content.''

Google has also protested against this law and has announced that it will remove news content.

Google deletes news content in Canada, with the establishment of the ``Online News Law'' that requires payment for link display - GIGAZINE

Not only global news but also local news will be deleted, raising concerns that urgent content such as missing person information will not be able to spread, and not only news organizations will be affected. Users have also reported complaints about it being community-wide.

I think the worst part of receiving this message today was the fact that it came after we posted about a missing woman in Sarnia. It's not just the news orgs that will suffer the fallout of this . .com/00HRxwdH6k

—Tara Jeffrey (@TaraJeffrey) August 1, 2023