Canada: Meta initiates process that terminates access to news – 08/01/2023 – Market

Meta has started the process to shut down access to news on Facebook and Instagram for users in Canada, the company announced Tuesday, in response to legislation requiring internet giants to pay news outlets.

The Online News Act, passed by the Canadian Parliament, forces companies like Alphabet and Meta to negotiate commercial deals with Canadian news outlets for the use of their content.

The legislation follows a broader global trend for tech companies to pay for news usage.

“As we’ve always said, the law is based on a fundamentally flawed premise. And regrettably, the only reasonable way to comply is to end the availability of news in Canada,” said Meta spokesperson Andy Stone on the X social network. , formerly known as Twitter.

The office of Canada’s Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge, who is in charge of the government’s dealings with Meta, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a campaign against the law requiring payments to local media, both Meta and Google said in June they would block access to news on their platforms in the country.

Meta claimed that links to news represent less than 3% of the content in its users’ feeds and argued that news lacks economic value.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in May that such an argument was flawed and “dangerous to our democracy and economy”.