Meta’s blocking of Canadian news is both a bad look and a good result for the prime minister..This has all happened, of course, because of Bill C-18..This “genius” policy by the Trudeau Liberal government placed a charge on Facebook or Instagram every time it directed someone to a news link. This effort is misguided and counterintuitive to say the least..If someone put up a billboard and it directed someone to a business, would the advertiser get charged because their advertisement actually worked? No. Regardless, that is how Bill C-18 works in practice..It turns out Meta would rather block news than be charged every time someone clicks on a link to it..They are, after all, a profit-earning social media site, not a news site..Ensuring Canadians get Canadian news is now a financial liability..Bill C-18 matches many other bad bills of the last eight years, along with some still in progress. For such Liberal decrees, the point was the means to an end, not good policy — even if it was pitched to the public as such..This policy, purportedly done to ensure a robust democracy-encouraging domestic media environment, blah blah blah, is really done to ensure that the establishment media can be kept alive as a propaganda wing for the ideology of the government..The Facebook tax — let’s call it for what it is — is a politically convenient way to get more money for these failing outlets while appearing to go after “big business” and not Canadians for the money..In all likelihood, the bulk of the funds gathered will go to the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail, and whoever else is seeking cash from the Trudeau trough..These outlets have already become used to a multi-million dollar gravy train. In recent years, $595 million of federal tax breaks has been dished out to media outlets in near-total secrecy..There is no consistent criteria of who gets what and on what basis..This is problematic enough as media outlets, supposedly there to bring disclosure and keep governments called to account, instead collude with our rulers in selfish secrecy. What kind of coverage will the Poilievre Conservatives get when the CBC and the rest of mainstream media expects he would turn off the taps?.Now that Canadian mainstream media is less profitable than in the past, government money has become part of the business plan. Their corporate bosses know where their bread is buttered, the editors they hire understand that too and these incentives would tend, if anything, to make the media more government-friendly..Prime Minister Trudeau can claim all he wants to go to war with Meta, but once again, it’s better for him to appear to be going to war than to actually fight and win that war. Although some Canadian Facebook and Instagram users will groan, the Meta ban still benefits him..The Western Standard and numerous other media outlets are internet-based and thrive on social media..Such posts attract people to the headlines of happenings and perspectives the mainstream media might not have ever told them. Although there’s plenty of evidence that big tech tilts towards progressive, and not conservative, views, social media is nonetheless an important catalyst for the growth of independent media..This means the Meta ban helps Trudeau in two ways..One, alternative media gets a kick in the nuts for its revenues, exposure and impact..Second, mainstream media also gets less exposure, traffic, and advertising dollars..The end result of this is predictable: they will come crawling to Trudeau for even more money to solve the problem he created. He will give them our money as taxpayers and they will be even more likely to suck up to him than before..The irony of all this is that so long as the IP address doesn’t reveal the net surfer is in Canada, a person can read whatever links to Canadian news they want without hindrance..Only in Canada does the freedom to share Canadian news on social media fail to exist..No, Bill C-18 does nothing to make sure democracy gets its air and everything to make sure Trudeau-critical independent media gets smothered. As is the Liberal way, this policy is a big pretence whose effects are different, or even opposite, of the goals it supposedly exists to advance..It’s just like the Trudeau Liberals pledge in 2015 to champion the middle class, followed by eight years crippling the private sector economy and handing out billions to multinational corporations..It’s a good time to tell your friends to take out a membership at Western Standard at $10 monthly (or $100 annually as a discount) and make the site your home page..Daily emails will show subscribers the links to articles that Trudeau and Meta are trying to hide. Why not pass them on to friends in an email and not an online post?.Dark times like these beg anyone who’s willing to become a beacon.
Meta’s blocking of Canadian news is both a bad look and a good result for the prime minister..This has all happened, of course, because of Bill C-18..This “genius” policy by the Trudeau Liberal government placed a charge on Facebook or Instagram every time it directed someone to a news link. This effort is misguided and counterintuitive to say the least..If someone put up a billboard and it directed someone to a business, would the advertiser get charged because their advertisement actually worked? No. Regardless, that is how Bill C-18 works in practice..It turns out Meta would rather block news than be charged every time someone clicks on a link to it..They are, after all, a profit-earning social media site, not a news site..Ensuring Canadians get Canadian news is now a financial liability..Bill C-18 matches many other bad bills of the last eight years, along with some still in progress. For such Liberal decrees, the point was the means to an end, not good policy — even if it was pitched to the public as such..This policy, purportedly done to ensure a robust democracy-encouraging domestic media environment, blah blah blah, is really done to ensure that the establishment media can be kept alive as a propaganda wing for the ideology of the government..The Facebook tax — let’s call it for what it is — is a politically convenient way to get more money for these failing outlets while appearing to go after “big business” and not Canadians for the money..In all likelihood, the bulk of the funds gathered will go to the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail, and whoever else is seeking cash from the Trudeau trough..These outlets have already become used to a multi-million dollar gravy train. In recent years, $595 million of federal tax breaks has been dished out to media outlets in near-total secrecy..There is no consistent criteria of who gets what and on what basis..This is problematic enough as media outlets, supposedly there to bring disclosure and keep governments called to account, instead collude with our rulers in selfish secrecy. What kind of coverage will the Poilievre Conservatives get when the CBC and the rest of mainstream media expects he would turn off the taps?.Now that Canadian mainstream media is less profitable than in the past, government money has become part of the business plan. Their corporate bosses know where their bread is buttered, the editors they hire understand that too and these incentives would tend, if anything, to make the media more government-friendly..Prime Minister Trudeau can claim all he wants to go to war with Meta, but once again, it’s better for him to appear to be going to war than to actually fight and win that war. Although some Canadian Facebook and Instagram users will groan, the Meta ban still benefits him..The Western Standard and numerous other media outlets are internet-based and thrive on social media..Such posts attract people to the headlines of happenings and perspectives the mainstream media might not have ever told them. Although there’s plenty of evidence that big tech tilts towards progressive, and not conservative, views, social media is nonetheless an important catalyst for the growth of independent media..This means the Meta ban helps Trudeau in two ways..One, alternative media gets a kick in the nuts for its revenues, exposure and impact..Second, mainstream media also gets less exposure, traffic, and advertising dollars..The end result of this is predictable: they will come crawling to Trudeau for even more money to solve the problem he created. He will give them our money as taxpayers and they will be even more likely to suck up to him than before..The irony of all this is that so long as the IP address doesn’t reveal the net surfer is in Canada, a person can read whatever links to Canadian news they want without hindrance..Only in Canada does the freedom to share Canadian news on social media fail to exist..No, Bill C-18 does nothing to make sure democracy gets its air and everything to make sure Trudeau-critical independent media gets smothered. As is the Liberal way, this policy is a big pretence whose effects are different, or even opposite, of the goals it supposedly exists to advance..It’s just like the Trudeau Liberals pledge in 2015 to champion the middle class, followed by eight years crippling the private sector economy and handing out billions to multinational corporations..It’s a good time to tell your friends to take out a membership at Western Standard at $10 monthly (or $100 annually as a discount) and make the site your home page..Daily emails will show subscribers the links to articles that Trudeau and Meta are trying to hide. Why not pass them on to friends in an email and not an online post?.Dark times like these beg anyone who’s willing to become a beacon.
