(Montreal) Quebecor and Cogeco announce that they are immediately cutting their advertising investments from the Meta, Facebook and Instagram platforms, to protest against the pressure tactics of the technology giant.
In the wake of the passing of the Online News Act in Ottawa, Meta decided to block all Canadian journalistic content on its platforms.
In communications sent Wednesday morning, Quebec companies denounced the approach of Meta, which according to Cogeco, wishes to “limit the amount of royalties it will have to pay to companies responsible for making credible information content accessible”.
Quebecor adds by saying that this decision by Mark Zuckerberg’s company “goes against all ethical values of any company that believes in the importance of having access to reliable and quality content, necessary for a healthy democracy.
Quebecor and Cogeco are also encouraging other companies, institutions – and various governments to follow suit.
“In the case of the federal government, annual investments of $11 million are spent at (Meta), while only $10 million of these same budgets are invested with all Canadian broadcasters,” Cogeco points out in an article published on its website.
Meta isn’t the only tech company to react to the Trudeau government’s passage of the law. Google, another giant targeted by the piece of legislation, cracked down on its side by removing news links from its search engine.