Meta Threatens To Stop News Access In Canada If The Online News Act Law Is Ratified

JAKARTA - Meta Platforms Inc, Facebook's parent company, announced on Saturday, March 11 that it would end news access for Canadians on their platform if the country's Online News Act law was passed.

The law forces platforms like Meta and Google to conduct trade negotiations and pay news publishers for their content. However, a Meta spokesperson said that the legal framework that forced them to pay links or content they didn't post, and that's not the reason why most people use their platform, could not be sustainable and could not be implemented.

Meta's move comes after Google last month also began testing limited news sensors in a potential response to the law. Canada's news media industry has asked the government to regulate technology companies so that the industry can recover the financial losses they have suffered over the years as tech giants such as Google and Meta are increasingly gaining a larger share of the ad market.

Canada's Department of Culture has not yet responded to Reuters' request for Meta's actions to end news access in the country. Facebook last year also expressed concern about the law and warned that it might be forced to block news sharing on their platform.

Canada drafted the Online News Act as the news media industry in the country suffered significant financial losses over the years as a result of shifting news readings from traditional media to online platforms such as Facebook and Google.

Canada's media industry argues that the platform has benefited greatly from news content posted by their media without providing a proper reward to news publishers. Therefore, the law aims to force platforms like Facebook and Google to pay news publishers for their content and provide better protection for the media industry in Canada.