The standoff between Ottawa and Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg deepened Thursday after Bill C-18 — the ‘online news act’ — cleared the Senate and prompted Meta to begin blocking news content on Facebook and Instagram..The bill, which is now awaiting Royal Assent, will require outlets that post news content — such as Facebook and Twitter — to pay for it.. Meta and Mark ZuckerbergMeta and Mark Zuckerberg .Reaction from Meta, Facebook’s parent company, was quick and came mere minutes after the bill’s passage was announced..“Today, we are confirming that news availability will be ended on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada prior to the Online News Act (Bill C-18) taking effect,” it said in a statement. .“We have repeatedly shared that in order to comply with Bill C-18, passed today in Parliament, content from news outlets, including news publishers and broadcasters, will no longer be available to people accessing our platforms in Canada.”.In March, the parliamentary committee debating C-18 summoned the Meta CEO to appear in Ottawa for the third time in four years. He refused..News outlets will continue to have access to their accounts and pages, and will be able to post news links and content; however, some content will not be viewable in Canada, it added..The company went on to say “the Online News Act is fundamentally flawed legislation that ignores the realities of how our platforms work, the preferences of the people who use them, and the value we provide news publishers. As the minister of Canadian Heritage said, how we choose to comply with the legislation is a business decision we must make, and we have made our choice.”.It’s not clear if Google will follow suit..“Not content with taking hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, Big Media has colluded with the federal government again to steal more money that they didn’t earn," said Western Standard Publisher Derek Fildebrandt.."The consequences — Facebook turning off the news — have been known for more than a year, but they did it anyway because they know that the biggest losers in this would be the upstart independent media that have been eating their lunch."."These people — the federal government and Big Media — are criminals who have consciously conspired to either steal more money, or kill off their competitors using the power of the state.".Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez was reportedly holding last-minute talks with Google Thursday afternoon, the minister’s office and a Google source confirmed to the National Post..In an emailed statement to the National Post, Rodriguez said: “Facebook knows very well that they have no obligations under the act right now. Following Royal Assent of Bill C-18, the Government will engage in a regulatory and implementation process. If the Government can’t stand up for Canadians against tech giants, who will?”.During a Senate committee hearing earlier this month, Rodriguez threatened unspecified “options” for retaliation if the companies followed through on their threats — which apparently now they have..Google spokesperson Shay Purdy replied the company is “doing everything we can to avoid an outcome that no-one wants.”.During testimony before the Senate Transportation and Communications committee in Ottawa this month, Fildebrandt asked for the bill to be “opt-in” so news organizations such as the Western Standard do not lose the traffic they receive from those platforms if the Big Tech companies decide to block Canadian news.“Please amend this bill to make it explicitly 'opt-in,' so that only media that want to partake in this shakedown are included,” asked Fildebrandt.The amendment was included in the final version of the bill passed by the Senate on June 16.At the time Sen. Leo Housakos (QC) mentioned the Western Standard as an example of successful media companies thriving in the “current news media landscape.”“They're a huge success story. The Western Standard, there's so so so many out there and I don't want to miss any. They are a subscription paper, online and digital. They're doing as well as ever,” said Housakos.“We had witnesses that came before the committee, including print associations that represent journalists in this country that say thanks to Meta, their traffic is up as much as 31% to 33%,” said Housakos.“All of us know the only way you make money, I don't care if you're a journalist or if you're selling hot dogs or if you're a local gas station. You need traffic. You need people to get traffic.”....more to come
