After losing a similar battle in Australia, Meta continues to resist efforts by a growing number of countries to require the social media company to pay for news linked on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. On Saturday, Meta announced that it would end news access for Canadian Facebook and Instagram users if the country’s Online News Act is passed, Reuters reported.
A Meta spokesperson told Ars that the online advertising giant contends that laws like Canada’s proposed legislation “misrepresents” the relationship between its platforms and news publishers. According to Meta spokesperson Lisa Laventure, the company’s stance in Canada is the same as its stance protesting the United States’ Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA).
“A legislative framework that compels us to pay for links or content that we do not post, and which are not the reason the vast majority of people use our platforms, is neither sustainable nor workable,” Laventure said.
The Canadian government describes the Online News Act as positioning digital platforms to support the “production of trusted news and information.” It’s designed to help reverse a collapse in news publisher revenue, which News Media Canada reported fell by billions between 2011 and 2020 and continued falling through the pandemic. If the law is passed, it should ensure online ad revenue-sharing between news publishers and platforms, laying out a framework for platforms to bargain with Canadian news organizations or else—“as a last resort”—face “mandatory arbitration” whenever deals cannot be reached.
Currently, Meta estimates that links to news articles make up less than 3 percent of news feeds and are “not a draw for our users” or a “significant source of revenue,” a Meta spokesperson told Ars.
Social media users in Canada will know more about how this move will impact their news access once the law is passed and Canada updates its guidance on how news organizations can apply to be compensated for links shared on digital platforms. Meta has said that it “will keep Canadians informed of any changes to our services.”
Meta already gave up this fight in Australia
Proposed laws like Canada’s and the US’s JCPA follow in the footsteps of Australia’s news media bargaining code enacted in 2021. When Australia first passed the law, Meta temporarily suspended news access before reaching an agreement that Wired reported resulted in at least 11 content deals struck between Facebook and news organizations.
Meta did not respond to Ars’ request for comment on how many content deals it currently has in Australia or how Canada’s proposed law could be amended to create the “sustainable” or “workable” solution that Meta is seemingly seeking.
According to Wired, Australia’s law does not work perfectly but has led many tech companies to privately bargain with news organizations to avoid arbitration processes that could cost more than content deals. Nobody is sure how lucrative these content deals really are for publishers. Media organizations told Wired last year that for some, the payments cover salaries of a couple of journalists on staff, but for others, like News Corp, “tech platform deals contribute more than $100 million in annual revenue.”
It's unclear whether Meta’s pushback will result in any changes to the proposed legislation in Canada, but the CBC reported that Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez criticized Meta for threatening to cut off news access.
"Once again, it's disappointing to see that Facebook has resorted to threats instead of working with the Canadian government in good faith," Rodriguez said, adding that “this tactic didn't work in Australia, and it won't work here."
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