(LifeSiteNews) — All Canadians will soon be blocked from viewing and sharing news on Facebook and Instagram thanks to the Trudeau government’s internet regulation law Bill C-18.
On August 1, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced it has begun the process of permanently blocking all news for Canadians as the Trudeau government insists platforms pay to publish content under the newly passed Online News Act, also known as Bill C-18.
“In order to comply with the Online News Act, we have begun the process of ending news availability in Canada,” the company said in a statement. “These changes start today and will be implemented for all people accessing Facebook and Instagram in Canada over the course of the next few weeks.”
As of today, the censorship remains seemingly random as some Canadians still have access to news content while others are met with the message, “In response to Canadian government legislation news content can’t be viewed in Canada.”
While many Canadians lost access to LifeSiteNews posts on Instagram last week, that will become the new normal under the new law.
Under Meta’s new regulations, not only will Canadians be blocked from seeing Canadian news, but content from other countries will also be blocked.
“News publishers and broadcasters outside of Canada will continue to be able to post news links and content, however, that content will not be viewable by people in Canada,” Meta announced.
“People in Canada will no longer be able to view or share news content on Facebook and Instagram, including news articles and audio-visual content posted by news outlets,” it continued.
This decision comes as the company refuses to pay the fees set out in Bill C-18, a law which seeks to force internet platforms to pay for Canadian news content shared on their sites.
Canada’s Senate passed the Online News Act in June and it quickly became law. The House of Commons had passed Bill C-18 in December 2022.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government have been facing major backlash against Bill C-18 as Canadians become increasingly worried about their future ability to share information.
According to a recent survey by the Angus Reid Institute, the majority of Canadians are concerned about losing access to news due to heavy-handed measure.
Before the clashes with Big Tech, Bill C-18 was simply aiming to give the Canadian Radio-television and telecommunications Commission (CRTC) the power to determine which news content qualified for special privileges online, such as financial kick-backs from social media platforms where their content was shared. This engendered fear in many independent media outlets as it would have been under the sole discretion of unelected government bureaucrats to determine which news sources are to be considered “a qualified Canadian journalism organization” and which are not.
Now, however, Canadians are threatened with the possibility that they will lose access to news on popular platforms altogether, as the Trudeau government seems to be unwilling to correct course.