The Government of Canada and media giant Quebecor stop advertising on Facebook

(Adds Canada’s decision to stop advertising on Meta)

Toronto (Canada), 5 July. The Canadian government and Quebecor, one of Canada’s leading media conglomerates, announced Wednesday that they will suspend their ads on Facebook and Instagram over Meta’s decision to boycott a new law requiring social networks to pay local publishers for distributing your information.

Quebecor, which houses everything from TV channels, magazines and newspapers to record companies, accused Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, in a statement of “misusing” its position as well as “violating the core principles of any company that believes in the ‘importance of reliable and trustworthy news for a democracy’.” sound.”

Shortly after Quebec’s announcement, Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said the Canadian federal government had taken the same action in the face of Meta’s “unreasonable and irresponsible” stance.

On June 22, Canada’s parliament passed the Internet News Act, which requires online platforms to pay media outlets for including their content in their services.

After approval, Meta and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, announced that they would block access to news from Canadian media on all of their platforms in protest of the law and to avoid having to compensate information companies.

But Rodriguez added that although Google also decided to block the content, “they are open to looking for a solution” so the Canadian government won’t be suspending its ad spending on its platforms for now.

“Meta, on the other hand, does not speak to us unless they call us this morning,” said the Canadian minister.

The Canadian government’s decision to eliminate advertising spending in Meta was supported by two opposition parties, the pro-sovereign Quebecois and the New Social Democratic Party (NPD).

In 2022, the city of Quebecor, which employs 8,800 people, generated revenues of 4,352 million Canadian dollars (3,280 million US dollars / approximately 3018 million euros).

The company explained that Meta’s decision to prevent its Canadian users from accessing the information “or discriminate against Canadian media content on its platforms” is intolerable.

“In light of Meta’s categorical refusal to enter into negotiations, Quebecor announces that it will immediately and until further notice all advertising from its Facebook and Instagram business units and subsidiaries,” the Canadian company added.

The Internet News Act, which has not yet gone into effect, has been defended by News Media Canada, the country’s newspaper publishers’ association, which described it as a move to offset the power imbalance between publishers and the giants of the tech sector.

For their part, Meta and Alphabet justified their opposition to paying media outlets by arguing that distributing links to their news is “good” for newspapers and the media. EFE

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