Goalthe company that owns Facebook and instagramhas begun to temporarily block access to news on Canada in retaliation for a bill that would force him to pay media outlets for linking to his products.
The spokesperson for Target in CanadaRachel Curran, said in statements that appeared this Friday in the Canadian media that the “trial period” in which Meta will block access to news for some of the Canadian users of Facebook and Instagram will last several weeks.
The temporary block will affect between 1 and 5% of the 24 million Canadian users of the two platforms.
Meta said in a statement that the bill known as Bill C-18, which is currently being considered by the Canadian Senate, will make media content “unavailable to people who access Facebook and Instagram in Canada”.
The American giant added that if the bill passes, it will permanently block all Canadians from accessing news on its platforms.
Meta has refused to pay the media companies, alleging that the distribution of links to their news is “beneficial” for the newspapers and media.
The Canadian government said the temporary blackout of news from Meta is “an unacceptable threat” from a tech giant who refuses to negotiate with the authorities.
“When a big technology company, regardless of its size, the amount of money and the powerful lawyers it has, comes and tells us that if we don’t do this or that it will shut down, that is a threat that is unacceptable,” he said today. on Twitter the Minister of Heritage of Canada, Pablo Rodríguez.
In 2021, Facebook already blocked access to news in Australia when the southern country studied a similar bill.
Another tech giant, Googlealso temporarily blocked access to news for some of its Canadian users earlier this year as a form of lobbying against Bill C-18.