Government officials are in talks with tech giant Meta about restoring news to Facebook, as the Online News Act – which prompted the tech giant to end access to journalism on its platforms – is put on the table as part of trade negotiations with the United States.
Meta Platforms blocked all news from Facebook and Instagram in 2023, in response to the act, which would have required it to inject funds into Canada’s news industry for carrying its content.
The Online News Act, which became law in 2023, has come into the sights of the Trump administration, which regards it, along with Ottawa’s Online Streaming Act, as a trade irritant. Both laws affect American digital giants.
Alisson Lévesque, a spokesperson for Canadian Identity Minister Marc Miller, confirmed that preliminary talks between Meta and the Heritage Department are taking place.
“We want news back. How do we go there is a question mark and that’s why we are having conversations,” she said. “We are looking at how to get there.”
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Meta has consistently said it will not pay for news posted on its platforms. The company would have to be exempted from the Online News Act to avoid a legal obligation to pay into Canada’s journalism industry.
Rachel Curran, head of public policy at Meta Canada, told the Commons heritage committee in October last year that the tech giant would like to bring news back onto Facebook. She said she was “hopeful that the government will take another look at that legislation, which we think misrepresents the value exchange between publishers and our platforms.”
Google, which did agree to pay Canadian news publishers under the act, injects $100-million annually into the industry. Almost two-thirds of that goes to written media, including local newspapers serving francophone and Indigenous communities.
Ottawa capped the CBC’s share of the funds, which are indexed to inflation, at $7-million, with other broadcasters getting no more than $30-million.
“News publishers place their content on our platforms because they get increased distribution and then can monetize the clicks that they receive as a result from that distribution,” Ms. Curran told the committee. “So we think we are in a very different situation from Google. But that said, we would love to put news back on our platforms and we are hopeful that can happen.”
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In an interview with The Logic this week, Mr. Miller said Ottawa is willing to be “flexible” on the Online News Act and Online Streaming Act in light of trade negotiations. But he said the U.S. will not be able to dictate the terms, and there are some lines the government will not cross.
Last year, the federal government capitulated to pressure from the White House and cancelled a proposed digital services tax.
“The United States Government has made its views known regarding the Online News Act and Online Streaming Act, including in testimony before Congress,” Ms. Lévesque added in a statement. “To protect the integrity of past and future engagements with the U.S. we will refrain from commenting directly on the negotiations which are being led by [Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc].”
In December, members of Canada’s broadcasting and cultural sector warned that an increasing number of Canadian TV and radio stations could close if the federal Online Streaming Act becomes a casualty of the trade war with the U.S.
The act, which became law in 2023, compels foreign platforms such as Netflix to financially support Canada’s TV, film and music sectors.
Kevin Desjardins, president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, said last month that if the act is shelved as a result of American pressure, it would prove a “crushing blow” to Canada’s cultural sector.
Last month, 27 bipartisan members of Washington’s House ways and means committee, led by Republican Lloyd Smucker and Democrat Linda Sánchez, wrote to Mr. LeBlanc and Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., calling on Ottawa to rescind the act.
