St. Albertans will soon stop seeing news on Facebook, after a battle brewing between big tech companies and the federal government has reached a boiling point.
On Aug. 1, Meta, the parent company behind Facebook, said it would be removing access to news for Canadians on Facebook and Instagram.
In June, Meta started limiting access to news for some five per cent of its users and on Tuesday the company announced that over the next few weeks Meta would be removing news for all Canadians on both of their social media platforms.
The blocking has come as the federal government introduced a new law that requires tech companies to pay news outlets for using their content.
In St. Albert, users will lose access to Gazette and all other news content on Facebook.
To stay up to date with the most current local events, readers can make the St. Albert Gazette, at stalbertgazette.com, their home page.
Readers can also sign up for the Gazette’s daily newsletter to get the most recent recap of the day’s news.
Facebook users won’t be able to see any news on the platform, including stories from international outlets.
The federal government passed the Online News Act in June, which requires search engines and social media platforms to enter into negotiations with news publishers to license their content.
But social media companies say the federal government is over-valuing what news companies bring to the platform and that Meta benefits unfairly from news on the platform.
“The reverse is true,” Meta said in a blog post.
The company says news outlets voluntarily share content on their platforms to expand their audience and Meta generates traffic for news companies that result in millions of dollars in revenue for media organizations.
But the federal government isn’t backing down and has stopped advertising on Meta’s platform.
In recent years, big tech has taken a bite out of the new industry’s bottom line, according to the federal government.
Since 2008, close to 500 media outlets in more than 300 communities across Canada have closed. The resulting closures have caused 20,000 journalists to lose their jobs.
“Google and Facebook earn 80 per cent of all digital advertising revenue in Canada. Meanwhile, hundreds of newsrooms have closed,” Canadian’s new Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said in a statement after the Meta announcement.
In Alberta, some 24 weekly newspaper publications have joined the collective that will represent negotiations with tech companies to receive compensation for content, including the St. Albert Gazette.
For more information on how to access local news online from the St. Albert Gazette, visit stalbertgazette.com.
