‘News Desert’: Instagram and Facebook are blocking news in Canada

In the next weeks, Meta will start preventing users in Canada from accessing or sharing news links and audiovisual news content on Facebook and Instagram. The nation recently approved Bill C-18, often known as the Online News Act, which mandates that Big Tech pay local news publishers for the right to display their content.

Although it is still possible to read and share news outside of Instagram and Facebook, experts and news organizations are worried that Meta’s decision would make users more susceptible to false information and harm local news organizations that depend on the two platforms for visibility.

Google News may soon be gone as well. When the law goes into force, the firm announced in June that it would remove Canadian news links rather than pay content fees.

According to Michael Geist, a law expert and the University of Ottawa’s chair of internet and e-commerce law, the reaction to the legislation has led to “a news desert in Canada on popular social media platforms.”

He claimed that Canadian media organizations, particularly smaller independent publications that depend heavily on social media for traffic and income, will be severely impacted.

“If the news and news-style content that remains on the platform comes from less credible sources or has a higher risk of misinformation, that, I think, is a problem from a democratic perspective,” Geist added.

In a statement released on Tuesday, CBC/Radio-Canada noted that Meta’s decision “means that people in Canada who have come to rely on these platforms to find and access news and information about their country are now left with only unverified sources in their feeds.”  

One of the numerous social media platforms that deals with false information and fake news is Facebook, a prominent social network for news in Canada that is primarily used by rural and minority populations.

After the Canadian news market was shut down, Meta declared that it would “continue to combat misinformation” on its platforms by fact-checking any lingering content with outside groups.

On Facebook and Instagram, users will no longer be able to read news; instead, they will get the message: “People in Canada can’t see this content.”

In a July Instagram post, it was stated that “Facebook and Instagram are blocking Canadian news outlets for up to 5% of users in the country.”

Since June, a number of Canadian news organizations have been requesting that their Instagram and Facebook followers examine their material on additional platforms or directly support them by bookmarking their websites and subscribing to newsletters.

On Facebook and Instagram, some users declared they would seek out different ways to obtain Canadian news. A virtual private network, a device that enables users to act as though they are in another country, was suggested as a solution by a number of users. Others stated that they would purchase newspapers in print or online to be informed.