Meta confirms that Canadians will no longer have access to social media news due to the passage of Act C-18

Tech giant Meta has confirmed Canadians will lose access to news on its social media sites as Bill C-18, the Online News Act, becomes law.

“We have repeatedly shared that in order to comply with Bill C-18… content from news outlets, including news publishers and broadcasters, will no longer be available to people who access our platforms in Canada,” Meta said in a media statement on May 22. June. .

The announcement comes a day after the federal government passed Bill C-18 requiring companies like Google and Meta to make deals with Canadian media outlets and pay them for the content they link to on their websites and platforms.

The legislation would also give Canada’s Radio, Television and Telecommunications Commission the power to require media organizations to follow a “code of ethics” in order to qualify for negotiations to share news with digital platforms.

Heritage Secretary Pablo Rodriguez, who is in last-minute talks with Google on Thursday, said Facebook “knows very well that they have no obligations under the law at this time.”

“Following Royal Assent of Bill C-18, the government will begin a regulatory and implementation process. If the government can’t stand up for Canadians against tech giants, who can?” he asked.

Meta Global Policy Director Kevin Chan previously told the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on May 8 that the legislation put the company in an “adverse situation” as it would have to “operate in a flawed and unfair regulatory environment” , or discontinue news content availability in Canada.

“It’s not something we want to do, but it’s what we’re going to have to do,” he told the committee.

Chan also called the legislation “Robin Hood inverted”, arguing it would subsidize major broadcasters at the expense of independent publishers and digital news sites, making it harder for smaller media outlets to survive.

At a press conference on May 9, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the argument Meta had advanced against Bill C-18 was “dangerous to our democracy and our economy.”

“Apart from the jobs and communities supported by local journalism, by professional journalists, it is an essential service for understanding what is happening in the world around us,” he said.