Close X
Saturday, November 30, 2024
ADVT 
National

Canadian government drops ads on Facebook, Instagram as Meta promises to block news

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 05 Jul, 2023 11:39 AM
  • Canadian government drops ads on Facebook, Instagram as Meta promises to block news

The federal government will stop advertising on Facebook and Instagram, Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez announced Wednesday, as tensions rise between the Canadian government and tech giants. 

The decision came after Meta promised to block Canadian news content on its Facebook and Instagram platforms in response to Canada's recently passed Online News Act.

The new law will require tech giants pay media outlets for content they share or otherwise repurpose on their platforms.

Rodriguez blasted Meta for choosing not to negotiate with the federal government and instead blocking content for some users as part of a test.

"Facebook has decided to be unreasonable, irresponsible, and started blocking news. This is why today, we are announcing the government of Canada will be suspending advertising on Facebook and Instagram," Rodriguez said. 

He said the federal government spends about $10 million in advertisements on the platforms, which he said will be reinvested in other ad campaigns. 

Google has also promised to start blocking Canadian news when the bill comes into force in six months, but Rodriguez said the government is in talks with the company and believes its concerns will be managed by the regulations that will come to implement the bill.

"Today, we're calling on both platforms to stay at the table, work through the regulatory process with us, contribute their fair share and keep news on their platform," Rodriguez said. 

The bill will come into force in just under six months, giving the federal government time to decide on how it will proceed with regulations.

MPs from the Bloc Québécois and the NDP, which both backed the legislation, joined the Liberal minister at a press conference on Wednesday.

"The web giants need to respect Canadian law. They need to respect Canadian democracy. And that is the the profound message that we are sending today to Meta and Google," said NDP MP Peter Julian. 

Media companies have also begun pulling advertising from some social media platforms and telling readers and viewers how to access news directly.

News and telecommunications company Quebecor Inc. announced Wednesday it would immediately withdraw advertising from Meta's Facebook and Instagram platforms.

"Any move by Meta to circumvent Canadian law, block news for its users or discriminate against Canadian media content on its platforms, through its algorithms or otherwise, cannot be tolerated," Quebecor said in a press release.

Quebecor said it is pulling ads from Meta because of the company's "categorical refusal" to enter into negotiations around compensating media companies.

Quebecor owns telecommunications company Videotron as well as TVA Group, which includes the TVA television network, specialty channels and magazines. It also owns the Journal de Montreal and Journal de Quebec newspapers.

In addition to posting content on Meta's platforms, it has sometimes bought ads on Facebook and Instagram. 

For example, the Facebook ads library linked to Quebecor's TVA Nouvelles showed the brand had bought ads showcasing its 2022 election coverage, while Le Journal de Québec recently ran an ad with Tourisme Isle-aux-Coudres.

Hours after Quebecor announced it would pull its Meta ads, Quebec Premier François Legault said that "what we had hoped for is that these platforms pay the media companies" that develop news.

"Now, they decided to remove the content. Now, our responsibility is to continue these negotiations," he said in Quebec City. 

"We have to recognize where Quebecers are, where Quebecers get their news. It’s a new reality but we haven’t reached the step of boycotting, not yet."

Before Legault spoke, CBC News's editor-in-chief, Brodie Fenlon, released an article describing how he was unable to see posts on the brand's Instagram page, which now has a note saying the content is being blocked "in response to Canadian government legislation. "

"Nonetheless, we know large numbers of Canadians rely on Google and Meta to discover our news coverage," Fenlon wrote. 

"If those sources suddenly cut off access to our news, as Meta did for some Instagram users this week, then we want to ensure Canadians know where to go to find our journalism elsewhere."

He then listed a variety of ways CBC content could be accessed independent of Meta and Google, including on the company's news and streaming apps, websites, televisions, radios, newsletters, YouTube and voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Home.

"Wide access to independent fact-based journalism is a pillar of any healthy democracy and we aim to be anywhere people are looking for news," Fenlon wrote.

"If third-party platforms independently decide to get out of the news business, for whatever reason, rest assured we will help you find our journalism and make it as easily accessible to you as possible."

MORE National ARTICLES

Lack of B.C. transplant surgeons means donated kidneys are sent elsewhere: doctors

Lack of B.C. transplant surgeons means donated kidneys are sent elsewhere: doctors
Dr. David Harriman, a kidney transplant surgeon at Vancouver General Hospital, said between eight and 10 surgeons are needed in B.C. so residents waiting for a kidney can benefit from the organs that were donated in the province. The B.C. Health Ministry said the province had six kidney transplant surgeons in 2018. 

Lack of B.C. transplant surgeons means donated kidneys are sent elsewhere: doctors

New Chinese Canadian Museum opens its doors in historic Vancouver Chinatown building

New Chinese Canadian Museum opens its doors in historic Vancouver Chinatown building
The museum opens its permanent location in Chinatown's historic Wing Sang Building after more than six years of planning, starting with then-premier John Horgan mandating the province's Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry to establish the institution.  

New Chinese Canadian Museum opens its doors in historic Vancouver Chinatown building

Family appeals to public on one-year anniversary of Port Coquitlam shooting

Family appeals to public on one-year anniversary of Port Coquitlam shooting
Around 1 A-M on June 30th last year, police responded to reports of gunshots. Officers arrived to find 37-year old Mehdi “Damian” Eslahian suffering from gunshot wounds outside a home in Port Coquitlam, and he died at the scene.

Family appeals to public on one-year anniversary of Port Coquitlam shooting

B.C. must urgently change forest strategies or face more wildfire disasters: report

B.C. must urgently change forest strategies or face more wildfire disasters: report
British Columbia's independent forests watchdog is calling for the provincial government to make critical changes to how it manages forests to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires. It comes as the largest wildfire in the province's history, the Donnie Creek wildfire, continues to burn out of control in the remote northeast.  

B.C. must urgently change forest strategies or face more wildfire disasters: report

BOC outlook survey

BOC outlook survey
The Bank of Canada's latest business outlook survey suggests businesses still anticipate larger-than-normal wage and price increases over the next year. The central bank reports expectations are shifting closer to what they were before the pandemic.

BOC outlook survey

B.C. health authority issues drug alert after benzodiazepines found in vape juice

B.C. health authority issues drug alert after benzodiazepines found in vape juice
Fraser Health issued an overdose alert Thursday saying the juice that tested positive contained cannabis and suspected synthetic cannabinoids and was sold in refillable, unmarked and unbranded cartridges. It did not specify where the product was sold.

B.C. health authority issues drug alert after benzodiazepines found in vape juice