Meta may end Facebook, Instagram news content in Canada over proposed law

META Platforms said it would end news content on Facebook and Instagram in Canada if lawmakers there pass legislation that would force social-networking platforms to pay media publishers to feature their work. 

“We’ve taken the difficult decision that if this flawed legislation is passed, we will have to end the availability of news content on Facebook and Instagram in Canada,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, said in a prepared statement on Monday (May 8). Clegg described Canada’s proposed Online News Act as “fundamentally flawed,” saying Canada would become the “first democracy to put a price on free links to web pages, which flies in the face of global norms.” 

Canada’s proposed legislation is to establish a “fair revenue sharing” system between digital platforms and news outlets and provide for collective bargaining by media. In introducing the legislation last year, Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said he was seeking to address a “market imbalance” as an increasing number of Canadians turn to digital platforms for news. 

Canada is certainly not the first country that Meta has warned on the prospect of pulling its content. The company had said last year that it would remove Facebook and Instagram from Europe altogether over European Union data regulations. BLOOMBERG