Meta will soon block some Canadian users of Facebook and Instagram from accessing or posting news content on either platform.
The move, which the social media giant announced in a blog post on Thursday, comes in reaction to the looming passage into law of Bill C-18, the Online News Act.
Facebook has said it will be forced to block news content from its platforms in Canada if the bill becomes law, something that could happen as soon as this month as the bill is currently being considered in the Senate.
Among other stipulations, the bill would require tech giants to pay Canadian media companies for linking to or otherwise repurposing their content online.
“As we prepare to comply with the legislation, we are announcing today that we will begin tests on both platforms that will limit some users and publishers from viewing or sharing some news content in Canada,” Meta said.
Are you a Facebook or Instagram user? Do you use those platforms to share the news? We want to speak to you as part of a story. Email us at ask@cbc.ca.
Between one and five per cent of the 24 million Canadians who use Facebook or Instagram will be included in the test, which is set to start soon.
Different content may be blocked for different users on different platforms, said Rachel Curran, the head of public policy for Meta Canada.
“It won’t be a uniform experience, necessarily,” she said. “Some news links won’t be shareable on Facebook, but it might not be that experience on Instagram. It will be a different experience on different surfaces.”
“Throughout the testing period, which will run for several weeks, a small percentage of people in Canada who are enrolled in testing will be notified if they attempt to share news content.”
The test means that a user would not see links to articles or videos from news publishers anywhere in their feed. A user would also be blocked from sharing such content to other people.
News publishers will be able to post news links and content, but some of it will not be viewable in Canada.
Meta threatens to block news on Facebook, Instagram in Canada over new bill
Meta, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, says it will block Canadians’ access to news content on its platforms if the federal government’s proposed online news legislation passes in its current form.
Users who will be included in the test will be selected randomly, and will only be made aware that they’re included if they attempt to share news, at which point they will see a notification that they are unable to.
The number of news publishers who will have their content included in the test will not be public and is also randomized, but could include international publishers that operate in Canada. The publishers will be notified if they have been included in the test, Meta says.
News industry decries move
Paul Deegan, the head of News Media Canada, called Meta’s move a “kick in the shins” to Canadians at a time when the value and need for credible information has never been greater.
“Meta’s decision to ‘unfriend’ Canada by denying access to trusted sources of news for some of their users, as wildfires burn and when public safety is at stake is irresponsible and tone deaf,” Deegan told CBC News in an email.
“This hard-nose lobbying tactic is more evidence of the power imbalance that exists between dominant platforms and publishers, which is why parliamentarians need to pass the Online News Act before their summer recess.”
Meta’s move comes on the heels of a similar move by Google earlier this year, when it blocked news results for more than a million Canadians, also in opposition to the bill.
Meta says Bill C-18 is “fundamentally flawed legislation that ignores the realities of how our platforms work, the preferences of the people who use them, and the value we provide news publishers.”
Curran told senators pondering the bill in a committee last month that the company objects to being asked to compensate news publishers for their content, when by their calculation they have given news publishers more than 1.9 million clicks in Canada in the past year, “and free marketing worth more than $230 million in estimated value.”
“We will be forced to compensate news publishers for material that they post to drive traffic and drive clicks back to their page and websites where they can then monetize those views and eyeballs either through a paywall or they can place ads against the views that show up on their web page,” she said. “We are being asked to compensate them for an activity that actually benefits them from a monetary perspective.”
Government calls move ‘disappointing’
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez called Meta’s move “disappointing” and said Canadians will not be intimidated by these tactics.
Legacy media and broadcasters have praised the bill, which promises to “enhance fairness” in the digital news marketplace and help bring in more money for shrinking newsrooms. Tech giants including Meta and Google have been blamed in the past for disrupting and dominating the advertising industry, eclipsing smaller, traditional players.
Meta, which is based in Menlo Park, Calif., has taken similar steps in the past. In 2021, it briefly blocked news from its platform in Australia after the country passed legislation that would compel tech companies to pay publishers for using their news stories. It later struck deals with Australian publishers.
Accountable Tech, a U.S.-based advocacy group pushing for more regulation of technology companies in that country, says the news blackouts in various countries show the lengths that big tech companies will go to in order to sway governments and maintain their profits.
“What we witnessed unfold in Australia, and now in Canada, is Big Tech’s willingness to cripple democracy by withholding news content to a population — chosen at random — as a bargaining chip to stop legislation,” the group’s executive director Nicole Gill said.
“It’s clear that Meta has no interest in acting in good faith or improving the lives of its users and the communities they operate in. There is simply no reason for the U.S. to delay any action on reining them in.”
TORONTO – The Canadian Institute for Health Information says more than 7,000 people with diabetes undergo a leg, foot or toe amputation every year — and the majority of those procedures could have been prevented.
The report issued today says people with diabetes living in the lowest-income neighbourhoods are three times more likely to have an amputation than those living in the highest-income communities.
It also says people with diabetes living in remote communities are at higher risk of leg amputations than those living in urban centres.
Erin Pichora, CIHI’s program lead for population health, says lack of access to a primary-care provider to help people manage diabetes is one likely factor behind the inequalities.
She says disparities are also likely in access to specialists who can treat diabetic wounds on people’s feet — including podiatrists and chiropodists — before they worsen.
Diabetes Canada says the report shows the importance of ensuring people with diabetes have equitable access to the care and resources they need.
“People living with diabetes who undergo amputations face significant emotional and financial distress,” Laura O’Driscoll, senior manager of policy at Diabetes Canada, said in an emailed statement to The Canadian Press.
“We need to ensure that everyone with diabetes has affordable, timely access to the medications, devices, education, and care needed to manage their condition and prevent complications like amputation.”
The CIHI researchers reviewed hospital records from across Canada for fiscal years 2020-2021 and 2022-2023 and found about 7,720 “lower limb” amputations associated with diabetes per year among people 18 and older.
Each year there were about 3,080 hospitalizations for “above-ankle” leg amputations and 4,640 hospitalizations for “ankle-and-below” amputations, including feet and toes.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
GRAND FORKS, B.C. – Wildfire officials say an evacuation order for the B.C. southern Interior town of Grand Forks, has been downgraded to an alert, even as an out-of-control wildfire in Washington state surges north and threatens to cross the border.
The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary says residents must be ready to leave at a moment’s notice since the Goosmus wildfire remains a risk to life and safety.
Emergency Info BC says the updated alert, posted late Wednesday, is in place for west of Highway 41 and south of Highway 3, as well as properties west of Highway 3 from Sleepy Hollow Rd to Phoenix Rd.
It is advising everyone under alert to review their emergency plans and stock a grab-and-go bag.
The district says that when necessary, residents should leave via Highway 3, go to the Jack Goddard Memorial Arena in Grand Forks, and wait in their vehicles until the reception centre opens.
The district says if you cannot evacuate at that time, you should call 911.
The BC Wildfire Service dashboard says the fire was discovered Wednesday and is about two square kilometres in size.
Mark Stephens, director of the district’s emergency operations centre, called it “a very fast-moving and developing situation.”
“We ask everyone to stay vigilant and to keep checking the (regional district’s) website for information,” he said in an online statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2024.
Calgary police fired stun guns at a man and punched him in the head before he was put in restraints and died, investigators with Alberta’s police watchdog said Wednesday.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, or ASIRT, said in a release that police were called on Sept. 17 about a man loitering near the check-in desk of the Carriage House Hotel and Conference Centre.
The agency said the man appeared dazed when he was told to leave by an officer. The man tried to pick up items from the floor that weren’t there.
When the officer pointed a Taser at the man, ordering him again to leave, ASIRT said the man raised his hands and started to walk out. He told police: “I don’t want to die.”
“The lone officer tells the male to stop talking and continues to point the weapon at him,” the agency said.
It said two other officers began walking through the main doors toward the man, and he stopped and repeated that he didn’t want to die. The first officer put away his Taser and tried to grab the man.
“At no point during the interaction had the male been identified, nor was he ever told he was being detained or under arrest,” ASIRT said.
It said the man physically resisted the officer and was tackled to the ground by another officer, who then punched the man in the head. At this point, ASIRT said the three officers fought the man for 3 1/2 minutes with “various uses of force.”
The man was put in handcuffs and leg restraints, and a spit mask was placed on his mouth, said ASIRT.
“The male is noted to be bleeding from the mouth and vomits,” the agency said.
It said seven minutes later, the man was sedated by emergency crews and left lying face down. After three more minutes, he was found to be unresponsive.
“The male was then provided medical care but declared deceased at the scene.”
Calgary police said in a release that same day that officers were called to the hotel for a man “acting erratically” in the lobby who was refusing to leave. They said the man wasn’t co-operating and was still being combative after a Taser was pulled out.
Police said the man was pepper-sprayed and taken into custody and shortly after went into medical distress.
A police spokeswoman said Wednesday the three officers involved have been placed on a standard 30-day leave.
“We know there’s a family and a community grieving this loss and our thoughts are with them during this difficult time,” said a statement.
ASIRT, which looks into serious allegations of police misconduct, said its investigation will examine the use of force by the officers.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2024.
