Expert not optimistic about agreement between Meta, Canada on news payments
BNN Bloomberg
As Meta Platforms Inc. has started blocking news in Canada, one expert said an agreement between the federal government and the social media giant seems unlikely – but an agreement with Google is possible.
Tech companies and the federal government remain in a standoff regarding the Online News Act, a law set to come into force later this year that will force tech companies to pay news publishers for content shared on their platforms.
Meta announced this month that it had begun removing Canadian news from Facebook and Instagram in response to the law, and on Monday Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly criticized Meta for blocking news on its platforms amid wildfires and evacuations in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories.
Michael Geist, Canada research chair in internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, said he “doesn’t see much hope of an agreement” between Meta and the federal government.
