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Meta Confirms End Of News Availability In Canada
Facebook and Instagram users may notice more Stars & Stripes and fewer Maple Leafs in their searches as of this week, as Meta institutes its threat to delist Canadian sources on its pages. Google has also made similar vows, but seems to be waffling on a timeframe.
This is all because of Bill C-18, which is trying to force the big American tech companies to pay for online content (which makes sense to me) and links (which doesn't.) The Big Guys know that if they give in to Canada and pay up, other countries will immediately demand something similar, so this could go on for awhile.
In a blog post, Meta notes how each geographical place will be affected:
For Canadian news outlets this means:
News links and content posted by news publishers and broadcasters in Canada will no longer be viewable by people in Canada. We are identifying news outlets based on legislative definitions and guidance from the Online News Act.
For international news outlets this means:
News publishers and broadcasters outside of Canada will continue to be able to post news links and content, however, that content will not be viewable by people in Canada.
For our Canadian community this means:
People in Canada will no longer be able to view or share news content on Facebook and Instagram, including news articles and audio-visual content posted by news outlets.
I'm a bit surprised by the International caveat. I thought the threat was Canadians could not find their own news links in this country. But the Facebook/Instagram text appears to say you won't be able to see international links, either. Or are they just referring to any links about Canadian news, even if they're posted in say, France?
Not quite clear and since there's no version of SOWNY on either platform, it shouldn't really be an issue for those coming here. But I hope it doesn't affect Dan Sys' otherwise excellent Canadian Radio News site on Facebook.
Meta Confirms End Of News Availability In Canada
- RadioAaron
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Re: Meta Confirms End Of News Availability In Canada
RadioActive wrote:
I'm a bit surprised by the International caveat. I thought the threat was Canadians could not find their own news links in this country. But the Facebook/Instagram text appears to say you won't be able to see international links, either. Or are they just referring to any links about Canadian news, even if they're posted in say, France?
C-18 has left the definition of a Canadian news source so broad, and fines for getting it wrong uncapped, that Meta is playing it safe by blocking all news.
But I hope it doesn't affect Dan Sys' otherwise excellent Canadian Radio News site=12px on Facebook.
In theory, no, he doesn't meet the criteria, but he should probably change the name as I suspect they'll automate this process.
Last edited by RadioAaron (August 1, 2023 4:18 pm)
- RadioActive
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Re: Meta Confirms End Of News Availability In Canada
The CBC , which will obviously be one of the most affected by this decision, has posted a "how to find Canadian news without Facebook or Instagram" on its site. You just type in a location, like "Toronto" or "Ottawa" and you get a list of links to places that carry your local news. Replacing that with just "Ontario" produces an even longer set of suggestions.
What's interesting to me about the page is that it doesn't list just CBC Radio, TV or Internet properties, but other broadcasters of all different stripes, along with newspapers.
I know the CBC isn't like other broadcasters in this sense, but it's nice to see they're not leaving out the competition, whereas say, a Bell might only link to other Bell stations. You can try it for yourself below.
CBC's Local News Directory
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Thread Starter- turkeytop
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Re: Meta Confirms End Of News Availability In Canada
As someone who has never used face page to find my news, I won't notice any change.
I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.
- Ian
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Re: Meta Confirms End Of News Availability In Canada
"For our Canadian community this means:
=12pxPeople in Canada will no longer be able to view or share news content on Facebook and Instagram, including news articles and audio-visual content posted by news outlets."
I have now experienced this first hand. I posted a link to a news article that is now "no longer viewable". I can sympathise with big media if facebook is perceived as "stealing" content. However fair attribution of the originator could be seen as a free ad for the big media company. Much more pernicious are the piggy back news sites that blatantly lift copy and surround it with their ads. However these tend to pick from US news outlets. One in particular is DNYUZ which plagiarises from everyone, including the NYT which I actually subscribe to.
Last edited by Ian (August 9, 2023 2:36 pm)
- Dial Twister
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Re: Meta Confirms End Of News Availability In Canada
I remain bemused that so many people appear news-helpless because some android-like human who, incidentally, has agreed to fight a cage match with another android-like human, decides to throw a hissy-fit over Canadian (and Australian) laws.
Have him call me so I can share my thoughts with his illustrious self.
- RadioAaron
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Re: Meta Confirms End Of News Availability In Canada
However fair attribution of the originator could be seen as a free ad for the big media company.
Of course it is. The vast majority of news passed around on Facebook originates from postings by the news orgs themselves. In fact, they often pay to boost their own posts' reach.
C-18 gets the value proposition completely backwards.