Facebook threatens to block Canadian news if legislation not amended

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
23 Oct 2022 12:54

Canada must amend a legislation that would enable big digital companies to compensate domestic media outlets if Canadian news outlets wish to continue sharing on Facebook.

Facebook event. (Reuters)

Facebook is warning Canada that it is prepared to block sharing Canadian news - the same way it did to Australia in 2021 - unless Justin Trudeau's government amends a legislation that would enable big digital companies to compensate domestic media outlets.

Facebook on Friday issued a statement addressing the company's worries with Canada's proposed rules. The statement also included a warning.

"Faced with adverse legislation that is based on false assumptions that defy the logic of how Facebook works, we feel it is important to be transparent about the possibility that we may be forced to consider whether we continue to allow the sharing of news content in Canada," said the head of media partnerships at Meta in Canada, Marc Dinsdale.

The parliamentary committee is reviewing the legislation; however, lawmakers this week voted to stop hearing further testimony from witnesses.

The warning "is really not our preferred outcome, and we’re not issuing this as a threat. We don’t want to be in a position where we’re having to think about or talk about removing news from the platform," said Rachel Curran, public policy director at Meta.

Pablo Rodriguez, Canadian Minister for Cultural Policy, said in a statement that officials held talks with Facebook last week, "yet they continue to pull from their playbook used in Australia."

"All we’re asking the tech giants like Facebook to do is negotiate fair deals with news outlets when they profit from their work," said Rodriguez, who testified on Friday in front of lawmakers, arguing that Canadian news' sustainability without the bill is at stake.

The matter can trigger a high-stakes battle, similar to the one that happened in Australia last year, when an issue arose regarding media outlets' compensation.

After Facebook's decision to block news on the website in Australia - which lasted 5 days - the government struck a deal with the tech giant to ease regulations that required transactions in exchange for Facebook's restoration of content.

Facebook, at the time, took down Australian hospitals', emergency services and charities' pages, in addition to barring news content. Peculiarly, Facebook said this is was due to a technical error.