Meta Faces Backlash Over Canada News Block as Wildfires Rage

Meta is facing accusations of endangering lives by blocking news links in Canada at a crucial moment when thousands have fled their homes, desperately seeking wildfire updates that would typically be widely shared on Facebook.

The situation is being described as "dangerous" by Kelsey Worth, 35, one of nearly 20,000 residents of Yellowknife, along with thousands in small towns who have been ordered to evacuate the Northwest Territories as wildfires advance. She told AFP how "insanely difficult" it has been for herself and other evacuees to find verified information about the fires raging across the near-Arctic territory and other parts of Canada.

"Nobody's able to know what's true or not," she said. "And when you're in an emergency situation, time is of the essence." Until now, many Canadians have relied on social media for news.

On August 1, Meta began blocking the distribution of news links and articles on its Facebook and Instagram platforms in response to a recent law requiring digital giants to pay publishers for news content. The company has been engaged in a virtual showdown with Ottawa over the bill passed in June, which will take effect next year.

Building on similar legislation introduced in Australia, the bill aims to support a struggling Canadian news sector that has seen a flight of advertising dollars and the closure of hundreds of publications in the last decade. It requires companies like Meta and Google to make fair commercial deals with Canadian outlets for the news and information shared on their platforms, estimated in a parliamentary report to be worth Can$330 million (US$250 million) per year, or face binding arbitration.

However, Meta contends that the bill is flawed and insists that news outlets share content on its Facebook and Instagram platforms to attract readers, benefiting the outlets and not the Silicon Valley firm.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticized Meta this week, stating that it was "inconceivable that a company like Facebook is choosing to put corporate profits ahead of safety and keeping Canadians informed about things like wildfires." Nearly 80 percent of all online advertising revenues in Canada go to Meta and Google, which has expressed its own reservations about the new law.

Ollie Williams, director of Cabin Radio in the far north, called Meta's move to block news sharing "stupid and dangerous." He suggested in an interview with AFP that "Meta could lift the ban temporarily in the interests of preserving life and suffer no financial penalty because the legislation has not yet taken effect."

Nicolas Servel, from Radio Taiga, a French-language station in Yellowknife, noted that some had found ways to circumvent Meta's block. They "found other ways to share" information, he said, such as taking screenshots of news articles and sharing them from personal, rather than corporate, social media accounts.

Several large newspapers in Canada, such as The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star, have launched campaigns to attract readers directly to their sites. However, for many smaller news outlets, workarounds have proven challenging as social media platforms have become entrenched.

In a letter this week, public broadcaster CBC pressed Meta to reverse course. CBC president Catherine Tait wrote, "Time is of the essence. I urge you to consider taking the much-needed humanitarian action and immediately lift your ban on vital Canadian news and information to communities dealing with this wildfire emergency."

As more than 1,000 wildfires burn across Canada, she emphasized, "The need for reliable, trusted, and up-to-date information can literally be the difference between life and death."

Meta, which did not respond to AFP requests for comment, rejected CBC's suggestion. Instead, it urged Canadians to use the "Safety Check" function on Facebook to let others know if they are safe or not.

Patrick White, a professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal, said Meta has shown itself to be a "bad corporate citizen." "It's a matter of public safety," he said, adding that he remains optimistic Ottawa will eventually reach a deal with Meta and other digital giants that addresses their concerns.