This is the best summary I could come up with:
OTTAWA, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The Canadian government on Friday demanded that Meta (META.O) lift a “reckless” ban on domestic news from its platforms to allow people to share information about wildfires in the west of the country.
Some people fleeing wildfires in the remote northern town of Yellowknife have complained to domestic media that the ban prevented them from sharing important data about the fires.
“Meta’s reckless choice to block news … is hurting access to vital information on Facebook and Instagram,” Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said in a social media post.
Chris Bittle, a legislator for the ruling Liberal Party, complained on Thursday that “Meta’s actions to block news are reckless and irresponsible.”
In response, a Meta spokesperson said by email that the company had activated the “Safety Check” feature on Facebook that allows users to spread the word that they are safe in the wake of a natural disaster or a crisis.
Canadians can use Facebook and Instagram to access content from official government agencies, emergency services and non-governmental organizations, the spokesperson added.
The original article contains 314 words, the summary contains 176 words. Saved 44%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
The article doesn’t say whether the Canadian government has offered to not tax Facebook for carrying the links to news articles that the law now requires be taxed.
There’s no tax requirement. They’re required to come to an agreement with the news outlets to compensate them.
Sure, and they chose the option of not imposing any costs on those news sites by linking to them; thus making sure that there’s nothing to compensate them for.
So the same bullshit law as Australia, I dont know of of the Australian one has been repealed yet
Meta says users do not come to its platform for news and forcing the company to pay for content shared on its platforms is unsustainable for its business.
I agree with them here, news articles definitely aren’t what I come to Facebook for.
Why does the responsibility fall on news organizations? The government pages are not banned on Facebook. Use those to disseminate important information. If Facebook is really the best way reach your citizens then pay them a fee to pin a post at the top of everybody’s feed. Or mandate that they do it as part of the emergency services act.
The cbc might be government funded, but the rest of the news media are not. Their job is to hold politicians accountable, not organize evacuation efforts.
