Canada recently passed a bill to make tech giants pay news companies to use the news on their platforms. Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, claimed that since most of their users do not use these platforms for news content, they will not be paying the news companies and hence will block access to news for all Canadians.
Previously, both these big platforms have been testing the waters by limiting news access to some Canadians.
Facebook and Instagram to block news for Canadians comes as senate cleared the Canada’s Online News Act recently.
Canada’s Online News Act
According to Online News Act, the media industry of Canada has been in decline since the Internet came around. And the tech giants have been using their own platforms to take advantage of news content for free. The news bill wants the big platforms to pay compensation to the news industry for the content.
The media industry has been complaining about the tech companies using their content and pushing them out of advertising business. According to the news bill, news publishers should receive compensation for their content,
The news industry of Canada has been struggling for a long time and it’s time they should be paid for their content. The legislation’s aim is to focus and support the news industry so it could be on its feet properly.
In the last decade, around 470 news publications have closed after struggling for a long time because of the emergence of the Internet.
Moreover, the compensation amount would help news publishers in the creation of news content.
What is the Tech Giants Opinion?
On the newly passed bill, Meta said the media bill is a, “fundamentally flawed legislation that ignores the realities of how our platforms work”.
And since the legislation is already passed, it will soon come into effect. However, on Thursday, Meta has taken a step forward and said to pull back news access from Facebook and Instagram before the Bill C-18 comes into effect.
“Today, we are confirming that news availability will be ended on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada before the Online News Act takes effect”, this is what the tech giant, Meta, said.
Though these tech companies have been fiercely opposing the legislation, Facebook said that its users do not use the platform for news content anyway so it will be blocking the content soon for all Canadians.
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