Facebook parent company Meta threatens to pull news from platform in California if journalism bill passes
FOX NewsJun 05, 2023
The Facts
On Wednesday, Canada's federal government announced it would stand by its Online News Act – or Bill C-18 – and stop advertising on Meta-owned platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, in response to the company’s reaction to the law.
The Online News Act, which takes effect at an unspecified date in the next six months, will require tech companies to pay media platforms for news. Meta recently announced it will restrict news content in Canada rather than deal with the law.
The Spin
Establishment-critical narrative
The Canadian government is practicing what it preaches by pulling its ads from Meta. Though $10M dollars is nothing to the tech giant, the principle behind the move is what's most important. Canadian newspapers are drowning under the weight of social media, and there won't be any independent, objective outlets for Canadians to read unless the government steps in to help.
Pro-establishment narrative
Social media platforms have no choice but to restrict Canadian news content in the face of an unworkable bill that hasn’t taken the tech companies’ suggestions into consideration. Canada is only hurting itself because now the country’s major media associations and outlets will lose the traffic Google and Meta generate. The government should negotiate a better deal with these companies.
