Facebook parent company Meta says it may stop Canadians from sharing news content in response to the country’s proposed Bill C-18 legislation. The Online News Act was introduced earlier this year by the Liberal government. It aims to force platforms such as Facebook into revenue-sharing agreements with local news organisations. The legislation is modeled after Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code, which the country successfully after .
In a , Meta said it wanted to be “transparent about the possibility that we may be forced to consider whether we continue to allow the sharing of news content in Canada.” The threat came after the House of Commons Heritage Committee To a meeting on the legislation earlier in week. Google provided testimony, but it was only after Google asked to be included in proceedings.
“We have always approached our engagement with Canadian public authorities on this legislation in the spirit of honest and fair debate, and so were surprised not to receive an invitation to participate, particularly given public comments by lawmakers that this law is targeted at Facebook,” Meta said following the snub. Since CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s death, the Canadian government has had an antagonistic relationship with social media giant. ignor subpoenas In 2019.
The bill’s sponsor, Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, accused Meta of using the same playbook the company employed in Australia. “All we’re asking the tech giants like Facebook to do is negotiate fair deals with news outlets when they profit from their work,” he told . Meta, among other things, claims that news content does not provide significant revenue to the company. Meta was temporarily denied access to news content when Australia passed its News Media Bargaining code. However, the company continued to operate. News Crop is a partner organization to provide their coverage.
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