Tech giant Meta would block the sharing of Canadian news content on Facebook and Instagram if Bill C-18 were to pass in its current form.
The news was reported on Saturday by the Globe and Mail, which has had confirmation from the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Meta.
“If the Online News Act is passed in its current form, we will end the availability of news content to Canadians on Facebook and Instagram,” spokesperson Lisa Laventure said in a statement provided to The Press.
The federal government’s online news bill would force digital platforms like Facebook and Google to negotiate fair revenue-sharing deals with news media.
“A legislative framework that forces us to pay for links or content that we don’t post, and that aren’t the reason the vast majority of people use our platforms is neither viable nor feasible,” Meta said.
The company also argues that posts with links to news articles “represent less than 3% of what people see in their Facebook News Feed” and are not a significant source of revenue. .
Last year, the tech giant threatened to end the sharing of Canadian news content on its platform, if adopted.
In opposition to the bill, Google also recently decided to cut access to news to 4% of its users in Canada, before backtracking on Friday. Canadian representatives of the web search giant have repeatedly tried to dodge questions from elected officials, who did not hide their exasperation.
Recall that Facebook had temporarily blocked the sharing of news in Australia in retaliation for a similar law, in 2021. The Australian government was then the first in the world to force the web giants to pay royalties to news media for the use of their journalistic content.