Canadian media trained audiences to use Facebook. With Meta blocking news, what's next?

Canadian news publishers haven't given up hope that Meta will lift a ban on Canadian news, but in the meantime, they're scrambling to draw audiences directly to them.

Earlier this month, the social media giant began blocking Canadian news on its social media platforms — Facebook and Instagram — in response to Canada's new Online News Act which passed in June and is expected to take effect by the end of the year.

The law would — in the future — require companies like Meta and Google to pay media outlets for news content they share on their platforms.

The news ban was called "dangerous" this week by wildfire evacuees and "reckless" by the Office of the Heritage Minister while wildfires forced tens of thousands from their homes in B.C and the Northwest Territories. In a social post, Heritage Minsiter Pascale St-Onge called on Meta to reinstate news sharing on Facebook. 

News organizations — including CBC/Radio-Canada — have also asked Canada's Competition Bureau to investigate Meta's decision to block Canadian news, calling it "anti-competitive."

"We think there's a workable solution," said Paul Deegan, president and CEO of News Media Canada, which represents 570 news publishers across the country.

"What we're saying to Meta is, ‛The regulations aren't drafted yet. Pick up a pen. Put down your saber and let's try to work through this together.'"

Audiences can still reach Canadian digital news directly — by going straight to news sites themselves, or using an app on mobile devices.

But after years of Canadians and news publishers relying on Facebook to connect them, observers are wondering how — and if — the issue can be resolved.

Meta's decision to block Canadian news from its digital platforms wasn't unexpected, since the company had taken similar action in 2021 in Australia when that country proposed a law to pay media companies for stories appearing on their sites.

In that case, Meta and Google struck a deal with the Australian government before the legislation passed, and the company lifted the ban after about a week.

But three weeks into Meta's ban in Canada, there are no signs of it ending.

"I think the reason that they're being so much more brutal to Canada is they're afraid that Canada will show the United States a path forward," said former Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower Frances Haugen in an interview with CBC's The Sunday Magazine.

"I'm glad that Canada is standing firm because a functioning news ecosystem, a place where newspapers don't constantly go out of business, is a critical component to any democracy,"  Haugen said.