Meta Platforms (META) has reiterated its plans to remove all Canadian news content from its popular social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram within the coming weeks.
Executives at Meta announced that they intend to follow through with threats to officially end all news availability in Canada in response to federal legislation that seeks to charge technology companies for posting news content on their online platforms.
In June, Meta began running a test that limited news for up to 5% of its users. Now, the company says it is moving out of the testing phase and will make the ban on Canadian news content widespread and permanent.
Going forward, Canadians will no longer be able to share or view news articles and other content posted by publishers and broadcasters, including international media outlets.
News links to articles, videos, and photos will also be blocked by Meta Platforms in Canada.
Meta Platforms has made clear that it is responding to the federal government's “Online News Act” that became law earlier this year and seeks to compensate Canadian media outlets for online postings of their content.
The Government of Canada and some Canadian companies have retaliated by ending their advertising on Meta Platforms’ various social media sites.
Meta and Alphabet (GOOGL), the parent company of search engine Google, have refused to enter into agreements to compensate Canadian news outlets for content shared or repurposed on their platforms.
The technology companies say they help to drive traffic to Canadian media outlets by posting links in the online articles.
Politicians in Ottawa have said that the Online News Act is necessary to help Canada’s struggling news industry, which is seeing closures among newspapers and broadcasters due to declining viewership and advertising revenues.
The federal government has said that, since 2008, close to 500 media outlets across Canada have closed and more than 20,000 journalists have lost their jobs.
The Online News Act is scheduled to come into effect by year’s end.
Meta Platforms’ stock has increased 102% over the last 12 months to trade at $322.71 U.S. per share.
