Meta will end news on Facebook, Instagram for Canadians

Meta has announced that it will block news on its social media sites, Facebook and Instagram for Canadian users before Bill C-18 comes into effect.

The senate passed the bill Thursday in a final vote and was given royal assent.

The law will force Meta and Google to pay media outlets for their news content.

“These conglomerates, Meta and Google negotiate paying arrangements with news organizations will allow those organizations to make up what is lost through diminished advertising revenue,” said MP for London North Centre, Peter Fragiskatos.

He believes the bill will level the playing field between news outlets and giant tech companies.

“They can grow their news focus among other activities to make them more competitive, and then that way we can have just a better media environment; what we have now is a changed environment and it’s not change for the better,” he said.

Close to 500 media outlets in the country have closed since 2008, and more than 20,000 journalists have lost their job, according to the government — while Google and Meta bring in billions in advertising dollars.

“Now consumers are going to have to come back to the originating source, whether that’s a newspaper, radio or television website, to gain access to local content,” said John Macintosh, marketing and advertising support advisor with Fanshawe College.

“It's going to bring more eyeballs and ears back to the originating source, while stations have more traffic that’s going to allow them to develop more advertising revenue which secures jobs and a free democratic media,” he added.

Bill C-18 is based on a similar law introduced in Australia in 2021 that first blocked news from Facebook.

In Australia, Meta and Google entered into agreements with news publishers, but the minister never went through a designation process that would cause the law to specifically apply to them.

However, Bill C-18 is different since the Canadian government will not decide which company is captured under the law. Instead, companies will be identified through a regulatory process by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

Regulations from the CRTC will ensure transparency in the process.

“The CRTC will develop a code of conduct to support fairness and transparency in the bargaining process when it happens under the act. The code will ensure negotiations are performed in good faith and that both parties make informed business decisions,” according to the government.

“Well, we knew it was coming, and there’s been a lot of debate leading up to it as well,” said Gina Lorentz, coordinator of Fanshawe College’s journalism broadcasting program. “People think this is important for the sustainability of news, and others are saying it will lead to a lot of concern over misinformation and not getting fact-based journalism easily.”

Ultimately, many hope it will allow journalists to be fairly compensated for their work.

“I think that this is all building towards what is a sustainable way; the intention is to get more money to local news outlets and to grow those operations on the digital platforms rather than having Meta and Google take all of the revenue,” she added.

Bill C-18 is expected to come into effect six months from Thursday.

— With files from The Canadian Press’ Mickey Djuric