In a pretty bold and shameless move, the Liberals are using a national emergency where lives are at stakes as a political tool to force Meta to break the law they themselves implemented designed to censor news.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/c...rce=reddit.com
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"Meta's reckless choice to block news ... is hurting access to vital information on Facebook and Instagram," Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said in a social media post.
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Apparently Facebook and Instagram is vital to get information across because apparently the federal government does not have tools available such as the emergency broadcast system. Perhaps the Liberals should have realized the implications of this prior to implementing C-18, for which Meta and Google (who has stated they will stop links to news once the law is in place in December) has chosen to fully abide by the law.
Meta for their part continues to provide access to government sites and agencies which were not subject to the C-18 censorship bill, and for which should provide emergency information available to Canadians for those who use social media for sourcing info.
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In response, a Meta spokesperson said by email that the company had activated the "Safety Check" feature on Facebook that allows users to spread the word that they are safe in the wake of a natural disaster or a crisis.
Canadians can use Facebook and Instagram to access content from official government agencies, emergency services and non-governmental organizations, the spokesperson added.
Meta says users do not come to its platform for news and forcing the company to pay for content shared on its platforms is unsustainable for its business.
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For the most part, reactions found on Reddit to the news (which ironically is not subject to C-18 censorship for now, but could be in the future) are wise to the shameless political grandstanding and putting this squarely on the Liberal government.