Meta is blocking news in Canada

Question

The change came in response to a new law in Canada that requires tech companies to pay news outlets for using their content.

Answer 1

Yes, this is true. The recent enactment of Bill C-18 (the Online News Act) by the Canadian government requires Meta to "provide fair compensation to the news businesses for the news content that is made available by the intermediary," according to the text of the bill. In response, Meta released a statement verifying that "people in Canada will no longer be able to view or share news content on Facebook and Instagram, including news articles and audio-visual content posted by news outlets."

Sources:

Bill C-18 Full Text (https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/bill/C-18/royal-assent)

Meta Response (https://about.fb.com/news/2023/06/changes-to-news-availability-on-our-platforms-in-canada/)

Comments

Great use of official sources

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Nice way in showing both sides and fact checking each sides story with the Full text and the response

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Great Factcheck! You used lots of good evidence to enhance your claim, which is awesome. Using multiple sources also helps you to make your claim easy to understand and precise. Nice work.

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This is a perfect fact check, short and sweet but completely informative. Good use of sources and showing both sides of the story.

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Was Bill C-18 (the Online News Act) by the Canadian government already on your radar when looking up to fact-check the article? Or was this something you found after researching? Thank you for linking to the Bill C-18 full text so that people are able to get informed on where your claims came from instead of leaving it up to people to do so. Also, the slight interpretation of what the Bill C-18 actually meant is appreciated as well since people might have a hard time digesting something like that.

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This is a great example of a fact check. It was nice seeing you add both sides of the story and have good sources.

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This does a really good job of identifying the sources and providing context to the claim as a whole. It is also very concise which was nice and easy to understand.

Answer 2

Canada did recently pass the Online News Act, which required large platforms such as Google and Meta to "negotiate commercial deals with Canadian news publishers for their content." Both Google and Meta have agreed to end news coverage in Canada on their platforms when the law goes into effect. Canadian officials report that over 450 news outlets have closed in the country since 2008, and this law is an attempt to pump money back into the industry. 

Information regarding Meta and their response: 

https://www.reuters.com/technology/meta-starts-process-end-news-availability-canada-2023-08-01/

Information regarding Google and their response: 

https://www.npr.org/2023/06/29/1185087587/google-says-it-will-start-blocking-canadian-news-stories-in-response-to-new-law

Comments

Good use of sources

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I like how you've provided some information on why the law was put into place. Thanks!

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I like the way you provided your sources and also you provided a well in depth explanation on the source you found too.

Answer 3

This is true. I found the bill C-18 

https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/bill/C-18/royal-assent 

From the summary of the bill, 

"It establishes a framework through which digital news intermediary operators and news businesses may enter into agreements respecting news content that is made available by digital news intermediaries."

In this example, "digital news intermediaries" refers to websites like Facebook. 

Facebook also shared their response to the bill updated August 1st. 

https://about.fb.com/news/2023/06/changes-to-news-availability-on-our-platforms-in-canada/ 

"In order to comply with the Online News Act, we have begun the process of ending news availability in Canada. These changes start today, and will be implemented for all people accessing Facebook and Instagram in Canada over the course of the next few weeks." 

It appears Facebook has decided to delete access to news altogether on the site since they would be forced to pay Canadian news companies for use of their stories.

Comments

I think you did a great job using official sources, especially the bill itself. I also like that you added Facebooks response, using both sides and angles is important.

Answer 4

This is correct. The Canadian government's recent approval of Bill C-18 (the Online News Act) compels Meta to "provide fair compensation to the news businesses for the news content that is made available by the intermediary," according to the bill's wording. Meta responded by confirming that "people in Canada will no longer be able to view or share news content on Facebook and Instagram, including news articles and audio-visual content posted by news outlets." https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/bill/C-18/royal-assent

Answer 5

It's True. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced in a blog post that it has begun blocking news articles on its platforms in Canada. This decision was made in response to Canada's newly enacted Online News Act, which mandates tech firms to compensate news organizations for using their content, and this policy shift will see content from both local and international news outlets become inaccessible to Canadian users of Facebook and Instagram.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/02/business/media/meta-news-in-canada.html#:~:text=The%20change%20came%20in%20response,outlets%20for%20using%20their%20content.&text=Sign%20up%20for%20the%20It,newsletter%2C%20for%20Times%20subscribers%20only.

Answer 6

This does seem to be true and is also backed up by other large new media sites. The Online News Act that was passed by Canada was the law that was mentioned in the question

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/01/tech/meta-canada/index.html

https://fortune.com/2023/08/01/meta-facebook-news-blocking-in-canada/

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/02/business/media/meta-news-in-canada.html

Answer 7

This is true.

From Meta: "In order to comply with the Online News Act, we have begun the process of ending news availability in Canada. ... News links and content posted by news publishers and broadcasters in Canada will no longer be viewable by people in Canada." 

https://about.fb.com/news/2023/06/changes-to-news-availability-on-our-platforms-in-canada/

From NBC: "Over the next few weeks, Meta will begin to block people in Canada from viewing or posting news links and audiovisual news content on Instagram and Facebook."

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/instagram-facebook-block-news-canada-online-act-desert-rcna98225

Answer 8

This is true. According to Meta/Facebook themselves, they announced that they are stopping the availability of news in Canada as to comply with the Online News Act. The Online News Act according to Canada Justice Law is intended to regulate digital news and enhancing journalism sustainability.

Sources:

Meta: https://about.fb.com/news/2023/06/changes-to-news-availability-on-our-platforms-in-canada/

Canada Justice Law Website: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/O-9.3/page-1.html

Answer 9

This is true. According to an article by Wired, the problem of Meta and Googles authority over ad revenue led to the new bill passed in June, C-18 or Online News Act.

• About the Act:

• - The Act regulates digital news intermediaries in Canada.

  - Includes search engines and social media services as digital news intermediaries.
• - Excludes messaging services primarily for private communication.
• - Applies only if a significant power imbalance exists between the digital news intermediary and the news outlets.
• - Determined based on criteria like size, market position, and potential regulations by the Governor in Council.

"Both Google and Facebook have said the law is unworkable for their businesses, and Meta ended news sharing on its platforms in Canada last month." This quote is from an article in Global News by By Ismail Shakil and David Ljunggren.  

Sources: 

https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/pl/charter-charte/c18_1.html 

https://globalnews.ca/news/9934703/facebook-meta-news-blocking-canada-regulations/ 

https://www.wired.com/story/meta-facebook-instagram-news-block-canada-wildfire/#:~:text=Meta%20had%20finally%20made%20good,county%E2%80%94has%20been%20wiped%20clean.