Canada: Meta to withdraw news access on Facebook, Instagram for some users. Here's why
Meta Platforms Inc.
Meta's latest tests on its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram will limit some users and publishers from viewing or sharing some news content in Canada. While the specific timeline for the supposed testing has not been shared, Meta Platforms Inc. said that the testing period will run several weeks.
The minor percentage of Canadian users enrolled in testing will be notified if they attempt to share news content.
It must be noted that the supposed disruption in sharing the news content would only occur for the Canadians enrolled for the testing.
Canada's Online News Act
The test comes in response to Canada's proposed "Online News Act" which would force platforms like Meta and Google parent Alphabet Inc. to negotiate commercial deals and pay Canadian news publishers for their content.
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Meta had, in March, warned it would end the availability of news content for Canadians on its platforms if the proposed bill was passed in its current form.
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Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, who introduced the bill last year, called the tests "unacceptable".
"When a big tech company... tells us, 'If you don't do this or that, then I’m pulling the plug' – that’s a threat. I’ve never done anything because I was afraid of a threat," Rodriguez was quoted as saying byReuters.
Earlier, Google had rolled out similar tests earlier this year blocking news content for some Canadian users as a test run for a potential response to the online news bill.
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