• Canadian lawmakers are set to pass a new law that would force the likes of Meta to reimburse news publishers for the content published on their platforms.
• In response, Meta has said it will remove news content from the region.
• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the behaviour bullying and said the tactic won’t work.

Two years after it threatened to pull news content from its platforms in Australia, Meta has now announced that it will do the same in Canada when a new law passes.

“Today, we are confirming that news availability will be ended on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada prior to the Online News Act (Bill C-18) taking effect,” the firm which has a market cap of $730 billion told users on Thursday.

As with the Australian law that was nearly passed by lawmakers in 2021, Bill C-18 hoped to make platform operators reimburse news outlets for running content on their platforms. This as news organisations see advertising revenue dwindle thanks to the likes of Google and Meta offering massive reach for a low price that newsrooms simply can’t afford to match.

However, the $730 billion company frames this as the law forcing it to stop carrying news content.

“As we have repeatedly shared, the Online News Act is fundamentally flawed legislation that ignores the realities of how our platforms work, the preferences of the people who use them, and the value we provide news publishers. As the Minister of Canadian Heritage has said, how we choose to comply with the legislation is a business decision we must make, and we have made our choice. While these product tests are temporary, we intend to end the availability of news content in Canada permanently following the passage of Bill C-18,” the multi-billion dollar firm wrote earlier this month.

Of course, Meta could simply negotiate with news publishers to pay them. The problem here though is that this may set a precedent, one which Meta seems to think it’s already set in Australia.

What is unclear is whether Canada will change the contents of C-18 following Meta’s decision. With that having been said, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears to be steadfast in his resolve to pass this bill.

“The fact that these internet giants would rather cut off Canadians’ access to local news than pay their fair share is a real problem, and now they’re resorting to bullying tactics to try and get their way. It’s not going to work,” Trudeau told CBC.

We’re going to keep a close eye on how this plays out and how it impacts Meta’s platforms in the Great White North, if at all. Should Canada remain firm on its stance it could inspire others and Meta may have to start pulling news content from more and more countries and that could become problematic for the firm.

[Image – sebastiaan stam on Unsplash]