Due to concerns about the Online News Act, introduced in April to ensure that platforms such as Facebook and Google reach an agreement that compensates news publishers for their content, Facebook says it could restrict the sharing of news content on its platform in Canada.
A parliamentary committee is considering legislation to ensure news agencies are fairly rewarded for their work, but Meta claims that it was not invited to any of the hearings and that it does not support such a law because news content does not generate significant revenue for Facebook.
“We believe the Online News Act misrepresents the relationship between platforms and news publishers, and we call on the government to review its approach,” Marc Dinsdale, head of media partnerships at Meta Canada, said in a blog post.
“In the face of adverse legislation based on false assumptions that defy the logic of how Facebook operates, we believe it’s important to be transparent about the possibility that we may be forced to reconsider allowing news content sharing in Canada,” Dinsdale wrote.
The bill’s sponsor, Canada’s Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, said the government is still in “constructive conversations” with Facebook, and that it wants technology giants like Facebook to make fair deals with news organizations that profit from their work.
The sources for this piece include articles in Reuters and TheVerge.