Meta Pressures Canadian Government to Modify or Lift Online News Act

Here is an interesting tidbit from Politico’s Canada Playbook newsletter. Nick Taylor-Vaisey, Mike Blanchfield, and Mickey Djuric: Meta says it hopes to restore news on Facebook and Instagram in Canada by year’s end, Rachel Curran, director of public policy at Meta Canada, told Playbook. She said it will “very likely” be resolved through Canada-U.S. trade talks. “If we are able to reach agreement post-midterms — and it sounds like there’s activity in that direction — the news stuff will be dealt with as part of that,” she said. I can see no way Meta will start permitting news links again in Canada if it has to pay for them. I anticipate, therefore, that this means it thinks the Canadian government will heavily modify or, more likely, rescind the Online News Act, just as it did the Digital Services Tax last year. Telling Politico seems like a pressure tactic. ⌥ Permalink

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