Accused of lacking solidarity with Quebec media, the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) and Québec solidaire (QS) are suspending their advertising on Meta platforms.
The two political parties will join the boycott for a day on Friday to protest the multinational’s decision to block Canadian media content on all its platforms in retaliation for the adoption by the Canadian Parliament of Bill C -18 on online news. They will resume broadcasting on Saturday.
The Coalition Avenir Québec and the Parti Québécois have already decided to cut their advertising ties with Meta. In the last few days, they each attacked the decision of QS and the PLQ to remain on Facebook and Instagram, on the sidelines of a by-election moreover.
On Tuesday, solidarity co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois justified himself by asserting that “symbolic gestures” would not force Meta to back down. The interim leader of the PLQ, Marc Tanguay, for his part stressed that it was important to continue to reach Quebecers, who are 88% on Facebook.
The day without Meta is notably an initiative of the Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec. Last week, its president, Michaël Nguyen, raised the “dangers for society” posed by the blocking of media on platforms of such popularity.
Further details will follow.
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