Is your access to news on Facebook and Instagram about to be blocked?

OTTAWA-The possibility of Meta blocking Canadians' access to news on Facebook and Instagram over the Liberal government's online news bill is ramping up, with the tech giant signalling it's ready to make the drastic move should the proposed legislation pass unchanged.

Over the past week, representatives from Facebook's parent company have told senators and MPs probing Bill C-18 - and tech platforms' opposition to it - that the Online News Act would unfairly force Meta to enter into deals with news publishers.

The bill would compel tech companies like Meta and Google, which share and direct people to online news content, to strike deals with the Canadian media publishers behind those stories. The Liberals have framed C-18 as an attempt to boost an embattled journalism industry it says has been hurt by tech titans dominating the digital advertising market. (Torstar, which owns the Toronto Star, supports the bill, and currently has deals with both platforms for news sharing.)

But Meta and Google oppose the bill and want to see it changed. If that doesn't happen, Google has warned it might cut its existing deals with Canadian publishers as it mulls pulling news content from its search engine entirely. Meta says it's ready to block news on Facebook and Instagram if the bill is passed, which could happen within weeks.

It's not the first time the platforms have issued warnings to countries seeking payment for news sharing. Canada's bill, while not identical, is based on Australia's News Media Bargaining Code, which infamously triggered a weeklong news ban in that country in 2021.

Here's how the Australian government handled that impasse, and what it could look like for Canadians if the same tactics are rolled out here.

What did Facebook do in Australia?

Facebook, which had yet to be folded under Meta, initially opposed Australia's law for several reasons. Among them, the platform felt news businesses would be able to demand payment for content far beyond its commercial value," which would lead to an arbitration process purposefully skewed in their favour." Facebook also argued - as it has in Canada - that the legislation failed to acknowledge how much media outlets benefit from using the social media site to drive traffic back to their stories.

When it became clear the legislation was about to pass, the platform took action. In February 2021, Facebook blocked news publishers and users in Australia from sharing or viewing all local and international news content. That meant anyone outside the country would also be unable to see or interact with any Australian news.

Not only was news wiped from the platform, so too was information posted by government agencies and non-profit groups. Government health information and pages for some emergency services faced the same fate amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, misinformation and conspiracy theories were left untouched.

While some of those changes to public services were reversed, the news ban lasted seven days.

How would those threats impact me if they happened here?

Meta Canada's head of public policy, Rachel Curran, told MPs Monday that the company has already set up crossfunctional teams" that are preparing to scrub news from its platforms.

While the company has not explained what that would look like here, it follows from the Australian example that Canadians would not be able to post or see any news content shared on Facebook and Instagram. Users could see warnings pop up on their accounts if they try to share news, and posts could be removed from news pages.

Canadians interested in sharing an article they found interesting, or hoping to share news content in the event of an emergency situation, might be completely out of luck.

What won't happen is Meta blocking access to government pages and emergency services, with Curran telling the House of Commons heritage committee that those errors will not be made in the Canadian context."

How did the Australian government resolve the standoff?

There were intense negotiations over the course of the ban, with Facebook stating it had convinced the Australian government to compromise on a number of changes.

The government pushed through several amendments, including exempting Facebook from being subject to the code if it could prove that it inked enough deals with news outlets. Platforms were also given a month to comply with the code if they were eventually designated under the regime, and changes were made to the final offer arbitration process that would kick in for situations where commercial deals could not be reached.

Facebook continues to warn that it can still block news if Australia ever applies the code to the digital giant.

Rod Sims, the former chair of Australia's competition watchdog, has since estimated that Meta and Google have struck deals totalling $200 million annually with local publishers. But he also recommended in a report published last year that it was time for Meta to be designated under the law, because it hadn't signed deals with two Australian outlets.

Will Canada be forced to find a similar compromise?

If Meta makes good on its threat, it's worth noting that Canada's proposed legislation and Australia's law aren't exactly the same.

In Australia, it was up to the country's treasurer to designate a platform under the code. Here, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission would oversee the regime, and the bill outlines criteria that platforms must meet to be exempted.

Even so, Meta argues that Canada's legislation goes even further than its Australian counterpart.

This legislation would make Canada the first democracy to put a price on free links to web pages, which flies in the face of global norms on copyright principles and puts at risk the free flow of information online," Meta's president of global affairs Nick Clegg wrote this week.

Curran told senators last week that the bill also exposes Meta to an unknown liability," because she said the company would not be able to control how much publishers could post to its platforms and how much the tech giant would have to pay.

It's up to senators studying the bill to decide what changes it wants to make, and then the government must weigh whether to accept them.

But Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez has made it clear Canada won't be intimidated," telling The Logic last month that the world is watching" the country's next steps. Sources close to the file, speaking to the Star on the condition they not be named, have also signalled that while they hope a news ban doesn't materialize, Meta will still be forced to abide by the legislation if the bill passes without its approval.

Raisa Patel is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @R_SPatel