Meta is blocking Canadian news

[pixy0stix]

When they need it desperately for wildfire coverage.

www.reuters.com/technology/canada-demands-meta-lift-ban-news-allow-fires-info-be-shared-2023-08-18/

[sonrisa]

Fucking Meta

[isabel]

Wait, why are they blocking Canadian news? I don't see anything in that article about the reason why.

[wanderingback]

Aug 19, 2023 23:33:09 GMT -5 isabel said:

Wait, why are they blocking Canadian news? I don't see anything in that article about the reason why.

It explains it in the article…

"Meta started blocking news on its Facebook and Instagram platforms for all users in Canada this month in response to a new law requiring internet giants to pay for news articles."

"Meta says users do not come to its platform for news and forcing the company to pay for content shared on its platforms is unsustainable for its business."

[heygrey]

Aug 19, 2023 23:33:09 GMT -5 isabel said:

Wait, why are they blocking Canadian news? I don't see anything in that article about the reason why.

Canada recently passed a law requiring big media companies to pay new sources when links are shared. 

www.nytimes.com/2023/08/02/business/media/meta-news-in-canada.html

[heygrey]

I am currently evacuated for a hugely destructive wildfire in British Columbia. It has been dominating the Canadian national news for the last few days. Meta is problematic for a lot of reasons, but I don't think it's fair to blame them for lack of information regarding the fires. The government is using this event to try to force Meta into compliance.

The best information right now is coming from our city, regional district (like a county in the US), BC Wildfire Service, etc. All of that is available on Facebook and Instagram. My neighbourhood FB group is also a good source of hyper-local information like which gas stations still have gas. For news articles and live updates we're looking at our local and provincial news sites.

If someone has access to the internet to use FB/Instagram, they also have the ability to look at their local websites which, I promise, are being widely shared on Facebook in a way that isn't being blocked. No one can look at Facebook and say "if it isn't shared here I don't know how to access the information".


Obviously other people have different feelings about this.

[loira]

Glad to hear you are okay, heygrey! Let me know if you need anything!

Meta has been blocking our news for awhile. It's annoying but there are workarounds, like posting links in the comments on FB. More problematic is that Google will start blocking Canadian news when the law goes into effect.

[aurora]

I hope your house survives, heygrey. Being evacuated for wildfire is traumatic.

Regardless of Meta, I hope everyone is able to get the information they need to stay safe.