Facebook and Instagram start blocking news in Canada

Meta has begun blocking all news content on Facebook and Instagram in Canada, a change it expects all users in the country to see within “the next few weeks.” That’s in response to the country’s Online News Act, which would require tech companies like Meta and Google to negotiate with and pay publishers for their news content.

The blocks don’t just apply to news publishers with accounts on the two platforms but also to links shared by users. If a Canadian person is friends with someone who lives in Kansas and that Kansan shares a link on Facebook to, say, this Verge article, their northerly friend won’t be able to view it.

On Twitter, which is currently rebranding as X, journalists for local Canadian publications IndigiNews and The Sarnia Journal spoke out against Meta’s change:

Meta calls this a “business decision,” saying it chooses to block news in order to comply with the Online News Act. The company says the Canadian government based its new legislation “on the incorrect premise that Meta benefits unfairly from news content shared on our platforms,” insisting that news organizations actually benefit from the sharing of their information on its platforms and people don’t come to Facebook or Instagram for news.