Canadian publishers are still adapting two years after Meta's news ban

Since August 1, 2023, Meta has blocked Canadian news content on Facebook and Instagram. This means that if you are in Canada and go to these platforms, you will not see any news content unless you use, for example, a VPN.

Meta’s decision was made in response to the Canadian Online News Act – Bill C-18 – which requires large online platforms to compensate Canadian media for the use of their content with the ultimate goal of creating a fair and viable Canadian digital news market.

Following the ban, Canadian news outlets have lost 85% of their engagement on Facebook and Instagram, according to a report made one year after the ban. “This loss has not been compensated by increases on other social media platforms, resulting in an overall decrease of 43% in engagement,” the report noted.

Two years after the ban, it’s still difficult to make a clear assessment of all the impacts, according to Marie-Ève Carignan, a professor in the department of communication at the University of Sherbrooke. “First of all, not all media outlets share all the data, or only those that promote them. Then there are several pieces of information and studies, sometimes contradictory, circulating,” said Carignan.

Some major Canadian media outlets have announced an increase of their number of subscribers and downloads of their mobile applications, while smaller media outlets seem to be the ones that are hardest hit. “It seems that it’s mostly local, hyper-local, small media outlets that are the most impacted. They have difficulty making a digital shift and adapting to the new realities of media consumption, since they perhaps do not have mobile applications, for example,” explained Carignan.

More surprisingly, studies have also indicated that despite the significant shift in news availability, many Canadians barely noticed the change. “According to a study from last year, three-quarters of Canadians were unaware that there was a news block on Meta after a year,” said Carignan. “It means that people still continue to consume information online on these platforms, as before, without being aware that what they are seeing are websites that are often not reliable because they do not meet the criteria of traditional news organisations.”

Find alternatives

Canadian media outlets had to adapt overnight. One of the most popular solutions adopted was to develop newsletters, as well as advertisements to encourage people to get their information directly from the source by downloading publishers' mobile applications. “We had a drop in organic propagation because our audiences are young and consume us via social media,” said Philippe Lamarre, founder and president of Urbania, a Montreal-based media group.

For the past two years they have worked to build a direct relationship with their audience. “We launched micromags, magazines designed and created for mobile devices, which are distributed via email and text message. We also leveraged Google Discover, leveraged our journalists' social media, and used Linktree to share links on Meta platforms,” explained Lamarre, adding that they have doubled their direct subscribers in two years.

Despite the ban, news organisation content is still available on Meta platforms through work-around strategies like screengrabs or using third-party platforms – like Linktree – to continue sharing news links on Meta platforms while circumventing the blockage.

Meanwhile, approximately 30% of local news outlets in Canada are now inactive on social platforms. The situation also raises questions about access to information for remote or isolated communities, especially during crisis time. Experts have already warned of the direct consequences during fires in Canada and the difficulty of accessing local and verified information.

Media outlets also received some money from Google. The American giant has reached an agreement with the Canadian government, which provides for the company to pay $100 million annually to the Canadian media industry in exchange for an exemption from the Online News Act. “At least there was some good from this law, but I don’t think things will change with Meta,” said Lamarre. The situation also shows how hyper-dependent the media has become on large platforms. “Digital and cultural sovereignty is no longer a pious wish, but a necessity,” added Lamarre.

What future?

For now, even with a new Canadian government, Meta isn't sending any signals that it will comply with the law other than by blocking news content. “I have the impression at this point that we really need something more global where several countries put joint pressure and then agree on demands so that these major players act and then decide to follow the rules,” said Carignan. “That's very difficult, knowing that each law is somewhat specific to the country.”

Carignan also believes that only a significant effect of a drop in audience and attention on these platforms, linked to the news ban, could maybe change the situation. But the fear of seeing other countries following Canada is very real, and therefore it does not seem a good option for Meta.

Added to that, studies have shown an increase in disinformation, political memes, and sponsored content since Meta’s news ban.

said Carignan. “They share information that is often false and very ideologically entrenched, often much more to the right or far right.”

At Urbania, they are still trying to develop new strategies to face this ban in the long term. “We're working on strategies for federating talents and creators that will be collaborations in both content creation and distribution. We’re looking for ways to reach audiences organically by benefiting from the networks of our friends and collaborators,” said Lamarre. “We're currently testing ways to compensate them, because we'd be very happy to share with our collaborators every dollar we don't send to Meta!”

Source of the cover photo: Markus Winkler via Pexels