TORONTO – Bell is the latest media company to pause advertising on Meta’s Facebook and Instagram social media products, becoming the latest giant to retaliate after Meta’s decision to end news link sharing in Canada.
“As Meta continues with its plan to block Canadian news content from its digital platforms, we are immediately pausing our advertising on Facebook and Instagram,” Bell Media president Wade Oosterman said in a late Friday afternoon statement.
“Like many Canadians, we are concerned about the consequences Meta’s decision to block links from Canadian news organizations will have on Canadians, and all those who reside or work here, all of whom should be able to rely on independent and trusted news from Canadian sources,” the Bell statement added.
Bell now joins other Canadian media companies, including Quebecor, Cogeco, the CBC, PostMedia and Toronto Star owner TorStar, and the federal government to suspend all advertising on Meta’s platforms.
Meta announced it was blocking news sharing on the platforms after bill C-18, the Online News Act, became law. The legislation requires these technology platforms to compensate news publishers for sharing their links.
Meta was unfazed by the federal government’s move on Wednesday, saying that the legislation is “flawed” and that it ignores the realities of how our platforms work, the preferences of the people who use them and the value we provide news publishers.
“Meta does not proactively collect links to news content to display on our platforms; instead, publishers actively choose to post on Facebook and Instagram because it benefits them to do so,” said Meta spokesperson Lisa Laventure in a statement to Cartt on Wednesday.
Bell said in the statement that bill C-18 “will provide the necessary framework for fair negotiations for access to valuable news content with a Canadian perspective, which is critical for our democracy.”
News station CHCH reported Friday that it could not share links on Facebook and Instagram, forcing it to suspend posting on those platforms.
