Up to 1.2 million Canadians are to have their ability to view or share news on Facebook blocked this month in tests of its response to Ottawa’s online news bill.
The tests, which Facebook says will affect randomly selected users and news organizations, raise the stakes over Bill C-18, which is now being examined in the Senate.
The bill, based on similar legislation in Australia, would make Meta-owned Facebook and Google compensate news organizations for posting or linking to their work.
The government has said it wants the bill to pass before the summer break.
What to know about Bill C-18, the proposed law that could affect Canadian news publishers
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said at a committee this week that his door is open to the tech giants to talk about the bill but he would not respond to threats.
“I never did anything because I was afraid of a threat, and I will never do it,” he said.
Rachel Curran, head of public policy for Meta Canada, said Facebook wanted to give Canadians a “heads up” that it was planning the tests and to be transparent about them.
Paul Deegan President and CEO of News Media Canada, which represents the news industry, questioned Facebook’s decision to restrict access to news reports as wildfires raged.
“This heavy-handed, unilateral action to remove access to credible fact-based news for some Canadians is smack in the face to Canadians, especially when two provinces are experiencing out of control wildfires, and to our parliamentarians,” he said. “News blocking sows the seeds of misinformation and disinformation and undermines social cohesion, and it will erode the value of their platform.”
Google conducted similar tests this year, blocking around 1.1 million Canadians from accessing news. The tests provoked an outcry as they were conducted without letting Canadians know in advance.
Facebook’s tests will continue for several weeks in June, and will examine the impact of several potential “product responses” to the online news bill.
The tests blocking access to news will affect between 1 and 5 per cent of Facebook’s 24 million users in Canada, as well as some users of Instagram, which is also owned by Meta.
Canadians included in the test will find they cannot find or share news or access sites of newspapers, broadcasters and online news groups. They will be conducted in phases and Canadians’ access to news may fluctuate.
Those included in the trials will see a pop-up notification saying news is not available because of tests in response to the legislation.
Facebook said it is randomly selecting both news organizations and Facebook users who are affected.
“News outlets are going to continue to have access to their accounts and pages,” Ms. Curran said. “They’ll still be able to post news links and content; however, some of that content will not be viewable.”
Facebook said it will not restrict access to emergency sites, such as hospitals, which happened in tests it carried out in Australia, and which the company said was a mistake.
The social media platform withdrew access to news in Australia in response to a similar law, and restored it after the Australian government agreed to make changes that lessened the legislation’s impact on the platform.
Ms. Curran said the tests were being conducted now, while bill C-18 is in the Senate, in case it passes by the end of June, when MPs and senators break for their summer recess.
“If we’re going to make sure this works as it’s intended to work, we have to conduct tests and we have to do it now,” she said.
She signalled Facebook may look again at its reaction to the bill if key amendments that would adjust its impact on the platform are made.
“We have to prepare for the possibility that C-18 is going to pass substantially as drafted,” she said. “If something different entirely were to happen we would adjust accordingly.”
The tech giant has proposed a series of amendments to the bill, including removing the obligation to compensate news organizations for content they voluntarily post on their Facebook pages.
It also thinks it should not have to compensate news organizations for links to news or to TV and radio broadcasts or podcasts.
Ms. Curran said the company didn’t want to pre-empt the Senate’s work or “presuppose an outcome.”
But she said, “It’s not viable for us, not workable for us to compensate publishers for material that they share voluntarily. That’s sort of at the heart of the bill. It’s fundamental to the bill. If that changed, I think we would have to look at that.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month called Facebook “deeply irresponsible and out of touch” for not wanting to compensate journalists under Bill C-18.
Publishers can share links and other content from their websites on their Facebook pages. The platform has argued this provides free marketing for news organizations, with an estimated value of more than $230-million.
Facebook, Google and Apple have already signed some partnership deals with news organizations in Canada, including The Globe and Mail.