From TechCrunch: Canadians using Facebook and Instagram should expect to see some gaps in their feeds, starting now.
This week, Meta began blocking Canadian access to links and stories from news publishers — the company’s response to a bill that would require the tech giant to pay outlets for the right to distribute and profit from their content.
“As we’ve always said, the law is based on a fundamentally flawed premise,” Meta policy communications director Andy Stone wrote on Twitter. “And, regrettably, the only way we can reasonably comply is to end news availability in Canada.”
In June, Canadian Parliament passed the Online News Act, a law that forces tech platforms to negotiate with publishers in order to establish “fair revenue sharing” over their content. When those agreements don’t come willingly, the law — like its Australian counterpart — allows for mandatory arbitration as a “last resort” — an outcome that isn’t likely to look kindly on the tech half of things.
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