Canada Halts Advertisements on Facebook and Instagram
The fight between Meta and the Canadian government escalated as Meta removed Canadian news links from its platforms.
- Canada’s parliament passed the Online News Act, which mandates tech companies to pay domestic media outlets fees for displaying their content.
- Following the law’s passing, Meta has started testing its products to stop the availability of Canadian news on its platforms.
The Canadian federal government has announced its intentions to stop advertising on Facebook and Instagram. The move has come after Meta set restrictions on news content for Canadians after the parliament passed a law forcing tech firms to pay media companies for news.
The law, known as the Online News Act or Bill C-18, has also drawn flak from Google, which has announced its plans to block news in Canada on its platforms when the law goes into effect after six months. Canadian officials hope to reach a deal with Alphabet before the block is implemented.
However, Canada’s heritage minister Pablo Rodriguez has called out Meta for being uncooperative in finding a way forward. Meta has argued that the new law is flawed and ignores reality, stating that publishers actively choose platforms like Facebook to benefit from its reach.
Now that the bill has been passed, the government still has to draft regulations about its implementation and applications. This will require the active participation of the tech giants in the process. Whether Meta’s Threads platform will be included in the advertising cuts is unclear.
See More: Google Updates Privacy Policy To Enable Data Scraping Across the Internet
C-18 Bill Finds Support in Other Countries
This is not the first time Meta and Google have faced troubles regarding their ad practices. In 2022, both companies were accused of unethically colluding in projects associated with programmatic ad markets.
In addition, while the tussle between the Canadian government and the tech giants continues, the new law has already found support. Quebec-based Quebecor, the owner of TVA, Videotron, and Journal de Montréal, and telecom company Cogeco have also announced the withdrawal of advertising on Meta platforms.
Australia passed a similar law in 2021, mandating companies like Facebook and Google to pay local media publishers and outlets for content displayed on search results and news feeds.
In the U.S., there is further support, with Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar sponsoring a similar bill in the Senate and Senator Elizabeth Warren voicing her support for the C-18 bill. In addition, California’s lawmakers are currently mulling a similar bill, despite threats from Meta to block news content within the state.
Negotiations with the tech companies in the coming days will prove vital for how news content will be distributed in Canada and potentially set examples for other countries looking to follow suit.
Should the tech giants make payments to domestic media outlets? Let us know your thoughts on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. We’d love to hear from you!
Image source: Shutterstock
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