Meta Says It Won’t Stop Blocking News In Canada

Meta Platforms Inc. said Friday that draft regulations for Canada’s Online News Act will not change its policy of blocking news in the country, while Google said it is reviewing the regulations.

Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St. Onge announced proposed regulations for implementing the Online News Act on Friday. The draft rules are subject to public consultation, according to a news release, with final regulations to come after that review process.

Rachel Curran, the head of public policy at Meta Canada, told BNNBloomberg.ca on Friday that the regulatory process is not sufficient to address issues the company has with the Online News Act, which would force tech giant and other companies to pay Canadian news producers for links posted to their platforms.

“As we have communicated to the government, the regulatory process is not equipped to address the fundamentally flawed premise of the Online News Act,” Curran said.

“As the legislation is based on the incorrect assertion that Meta benefits unfairly from the news content shared on our platforms, today’s proposed regulations will not impact our business decision to end news availability in Canada.”

Meta began blocking news last month after the Online News Act became law – though it has not yet come into effect.