Wed 09 August 2023:
On Tuesday, Canadian media organizations condemned Meta’s decision to block news information on Facebook and Instagram as “anticompetitive” and sought an investigation.
Bill C-18 demanded that tech companies like Meta and Google share income with Canadian news sources for news uploaded on their media platforms. Meta restricted news content in Canada in response, but Google has yet to follow suit.
“Meta’s practices are clearly designed to discipline Canadian news companies, prevent them from participating in and accessing the advertising market, and significantly reduce their visibility to Canadians on social media channels,” said a statement from the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and News Media Canada. The latter of those groups represent newspapers.
“Meta’s anticompetitive conduct, which has attracted the attention of regulators around the world, will strengthen its already dominant position in advertising and social media distribution and harm Canadian journalism,” it said.
The Canadian groups urged the Competition Bureau to investigate Meta’s action.
“The applicants ask the Competition Bureau to use its investigative and prosecutorial tools to protect competition and prohibit Meta from continuing to block Canadians’ access to news content,” according to the statement.
The bureau was set up by the government but is an independent watchdog that investigates acts that hinder competition. And it has teeth. The bureau fined Canada Bread CAN$50 million (US$37 million for price fixing in June.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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