Several months after making a “permanent” removal of Canadian media content from Facebook and Instagram, following the adoption of the Online News Act, Meta is now talking about a possible return of local news — provided that the government creates an exception for it.
“If we are excluded from the Online News Act so that the provisions of the law no longer apply to us – or if the government creates an exception for local journalism – we could bring it back to our platforms” , suggested Rachel Curran, the head of public policy for Canada at Meta.
She was answering questions from Bloc MP René Villemure as part of her appearance before a parliamentary committee in Ottawa on Wednesday. According to her, Meta’s business model, different from that of a search engine like Google, would justify excluding it from certain provisions of the law.
“There is still a lot of credible information on our platforms,” she argued, mentioning for example that politicians, Quebec government institutions and other organizations are still very present there. In his opinion, these social networks are not public services, but rather “a service, a product that Canadians like to use”. She even argues that social networks are particularly useful in a country with vast spaces like Canada.
Mme Curran reiterated that Meta reluctantly removed the news from its platforms in August 2023, several months before the Online News Act came into force on December 19. His goal is to never have to conform to them. The company said at the time that the news would disappear from its social media feeds in the country forever.
The Meta representative recalled that the company had concluded financial agreements with several media outlets. Even if each agreement was confidential — including the one concluded with The duty —, the company estimates its investment in Canada at $20 million per year, which “is no longer possible within this legal framework”, according to Mme Curran.
Google, the other company covered by the Online News Act, has reached an agreement with the Government of Canada to fund Canadian media to the tune of $100 million. The Online News Act, passed in June and resulting from Bill C-18, had the main objective of forcing Meta and Google, the two main engines of online advertising, to come to an agreement with a variety of media Canadians.
The Standing Committee on Access to Information, Protection of Personal Information and Ethics brought together representatives of Google, X and Meta virtually late Wednesday afternoon. All these companies have described themselves as champions of the protection of personal information, in front of doubtful federal elected officials.