The Canadian government will stop spending about $7.5 million a yr on Facebook and Instagram ads amid a dispute over a recent law to pay online news publishers opposed by Meta-owned platforms, Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said on Wednesday.
The federal government still sees a solution to resolve the dispute that led to Meta and Google Alphabet announcing they might end access to news on their platforms in Canada, Rodriguez told reporters in Ottawa.
Google and Meta announced their moves after Bill C-18, the Online News Act, was passed last month. The federal government is within the strategy of finalizing rules that may require platforms to share some ad revenue before the bill goes into effect by the tip of this yr.
“We cannot proceed to pay Meta Ads while they refuse to pay their due share to Canadian news organizations,” Rodriguez said.
The law was drafted after calls by the Canadian media industry for tighter regulation of web giants to permit news corporations to recoup the financial losses suffered through the years when Facebook and Google gained a bigger share of the internet marketing market.
“We imagine now we have a way forward and we’re able to proceed talking with platforms,” said Rodriguez, who introduced the laws last yr.
Meta had no immediate comment. He previously said the news had no economic value to the corporate and news organizations benefited from sharing their reports on Facebook.
Canadian telecommunications operator Quebecor and Cogeco, which runs radio stations in Quebec, also said Wednesday it will stop promoting on Facebook and Instagram as a consequence of Meta’s opposition to the brand new law.