Canadian Government Looks To Bring News Content Back to Facebook

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Two and half years after Meta banned Canadian news content in its apps, in opposition to a proposed bill that would have forced it to pay for local news content shared on Facebook and IG, the Canadian government is now looking to make a deal that would allow local publishers back into the Meta ecosystem.

According to The Globe and Mail, Canadian government officials are currently in talks with Meta about restoring Canadian news publishers to Facebook, as part of revisions to its controversial Online News Act.

Canada’s Online News Act ostensibly aims to address imbalances in the local news ecosystem, by forcing large online platforms, like Meta and Google, to pay publishers for news content that’s shared across their platforms, but both companies have argued that this misunderstands the relationship between platforms and readers, and confuses the incentives.

In order to underline this, Meta blocked all Canadian news outlets back in 2023, in order to prove that it doesn’t actually need their content the way that the bill suggests.

And seemingly, that has proven true, with Canadian officials now looking to restore publishers in Meta’s apps, as a means to bring more readers to these publications.

As per Globe and Mail:

“Alisson Lévesque, a spokesperson for Canadian Identity Minister Marc Miller, confirmed that preliminary talks between Meta and the Heritage Department are taking place. ‘We want news back. How do we go there is a question mark and that’s why we are having conversations,’ she said.”

Another aspect of these discussions is the fact that the U.S. government is seeking changes to Canada’s Online News Act as part of trade negotiations with the nation, arguing that the Act unfairly penalizes American companies, while also suggesting that it undermines press freedom.

I wonder if Zuckerberg’s closer friendship with Trump has had anything to do with pushing that idea.

Though, to be fair, as noted, Meta has always argued that news content is really not that big a deal in its apps, and that it can easily survive without it. Which is why most of the proposals like this, which force Meta to share revenue with local publishers, ultimately fall flat, because it’s the publishers who benefit from Meta referral traffic, not the other way around.

Does Meta get anything out of news discussion in its apps? Sure, but it doesn’t need that content, which is the fundamental flaw in such approaches.

The same has been tried in Australia, and various other regions, but the impetus behind such rules largely seems to be pressure from big local publishers, who seek assistance from government to minimize their ad losses. And because political parties need to align themselves with local press, we end up with policies like this, which make no sense, and as Meta has shown, bear little resemblance to the reality of online content dissemination.

And now, it looks like Meta’s determination on this front will pay off, with a change to the law that will eliminate Meta’s requirement to pay for news.

There’s still a way to go yet, but it does seem like a demonstration of the flaws in such strategy, in looking to force online platforms to prop-up local industry because of the shift in consumer behavior.

Of course, supporting local journalism is a good thing, and a necessary step in ensuring accountability. But policy approaches around such need to be based in reality, not based on market share, and the perception of who can best afford it.