Amid record-breaking wildfires in Canada, it’s important to get potentially life-saving information out as quickly as possible, right?
Not if you’re Meta, the technology giant behind Facebook and Instagram.
In Canada, Meta blocked local and national news instead of compensating media outlets whose content appears on its social media platforms.
After Canada passed the Online News Act—which would force tech companies to negotiate payments to media outlets that make up much of the “content” on social networks—Meta threw a fit and decided to turn off the news instead of comply.
Unfortunately, we’re likely to see more news blocks and brinkmanship by Meta as places like California consider similar legislation.
The one silver lining may be that people could realize that bypassing Facebook all the time may not be such a bad thing after all.