Canada suspends advertising on Facebook and Instagram
In a move to stand by the law and not be intimidated by Meta, the Canadian government has suspended advertising on Facebook and Instagram. The suspension comes after Meta blocked news from its platforms in Canada in response to the Online News Act, which requires tech giants like Meta to pay publishers for using their content.
The Online News Act is a new law that was passed in Canada in June 2022. The law requires tech giants like Meta to negotiate commercial deals with local publishers for featuring news content. If the two parties cannot reach an agreement, a mediation process will be initiated.
Meta's response to suspensions
Meta has said that the Online News Act is unfair and that it will hurt innovation. The company has also said that it will block news from its platforms in Canada if the law goes into effect.
The Canadian government has said that it is standing by the law and that it will not be intimidated by Meta. The government has also said that it is open to discussing the law with Meta, but that the company must first agree to comply with the law.
The impact of the suspension
The suspension of advertising on Facebook and Instagram will affect government agencies, businesses, and non-profits that use the platforms to reach Canadians. The suspension will also affect news publishers, who rely on advertising revenue to stay afloat.
The suspension of advertising on Facebook and Instagram is a significant development in the ongoing battle between tech giants and news publishers. It remains to be seen whether the two sides will be able to reach an agreement, but the suspension is a sign that the Canadian government is serious about enforcing the Online News Act.
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The big tech companies have way superior judgement of Liberal Government Censorship.
Amazingly, anticapitaliste socialism is begging big tech to force limited access to news.
Liberal / NDP government rated WORSE in the WORLD just ahead of China in Censorship.
Great move from the big guys
Facebook complied with similar laws in Australia after a little “dummy spit” but Canada’s population is 50% larger than Australia’s so the monetary “loss” Facebook faces may be more important to their bottom line…
A precedent has been set on the International Stage so Facebook will eventually have to give in and be fair to the businesses it is ripping off
I am strongly against the lawlessness and impunity of tech giants, but in this case I do not understand Canada’s position.
They said that in order to publish news from local media, the tech giants (in this case, Facebook) must sign contracts with these local media. To which Facebook simply stopped using (and showing) news from these local media, and, accordingly, there was nothing to pay for.
What is the point of forcing Facebook to sign such contracts, even if it no longer shows such news? Just an attempt by Canadians to get in a dicksize contest with Facebook and show who will be the more alpha male in the territory?
Again, I’m against the impunity of tech corporations, but it’s fair here: if they have to be paid for using media news (that’s fair!), then if Facebook chooses NOT to use such news (obviously to avoid paying), that’s fair too.
All of these companies have been making billions of dollars off of other people’s content for too long, it’s long overdue to put some rules in place and I applaud the Canadian government for taking a stand on this, because very few in the US Gov would dare lose out on the campaign contributions from those companies.