The giant Meta has confirmed that it will phase out access to news on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada due to the coming into force of Bill C-18. Remember that this bill aims to ensure that royalties are paid to the media for texts and reports published on the pages of Facebook users. By acting in this way, Meta wants to demonstrate that he is the strongest. Stronger than the Canadian state, stronger than its Parliament, stronger than its government.
I am not surprised by such an attitude, because since its birth, the company of the multibillionaire Mark Zuckerberg has always refused to comply with state regulations, to pay its fair share of taxes and to apply the laws of the countries. where she settles.
Bill C-18 on online news is however an implacable commercial logic: you have to pay for the information content that ends up on social media. Paying a tiny part of its turnover is a matter of justice.
During the discussions leading up to the adoption of the online news bill, Meta opposed Bill C-18, in the name of free trade. The press release even quotes the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez: “As the Minister of Canadian Heritage said, the manner in which we choose to comply with the law is a business decision, and we have our choice. »1
The other argument used during the parliamentary committee hearings and the Senate committee is that he opposes this bill in the name of freedom of expression. Meta’s statement reads: “We will continue to fight misinformation, including through the world’s largest information verification network for all platforms by collaborating with more than 90 independent third-party verifiers around the world who review and assess viral misinformation in more than 60 languages. »
Rather ironically, the washington post2 We learned this week that Meta has established tougher content rules in Vietnam, its seventh-largest market in the world. How ? He has in hand a list of Communist Party officials and dignitaries not to criticize, all at the request of the authoritarian Vietnamese government.
Meta has behaved like a bad corporate citizen since its inception. She has always disregarded the regulations of the countries where she has established herself. This show of force is also a snub to democracy.
Thus, we know that people under 35 get their news mainly through social networks, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Withdrawing news content from the Canadian and Quebec media risks having consequences for knowledge of current issues here for a significant part of the population. Information makes us better citizens.
Withdrawing access to information will have negative repercussions for many. Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Wagner said this week that misinformation threatens democracy. Meta has already done and will do its part when it comes to disinformation.
This means that, from now on, it is this American company that will itself select the texts and reports that it will accept on its networks. Which media will be chosen? Those who have accepted to submit to their blackmail? These media will be chosen by whom? Will foreign media, such as US media, take precedence? What will be left of the French media, already greatly weakened since Facebook and Google appropriated 80% of advertising revenue in the digital world?
I invite the Canadian government not to give in to this blackmail and Meta to behave like a good citizen.