The passage of the federal government’s controversial Online News Act has highlighted division over the law as tech giant Meta said it will block news on its social media platforms in response to the legislation.
Bill C-18 received royal assent after a final vote in the Senate on Thursday. The law will compel certain tech companies to pay for news content that they share on their platforms.
Meta announced in a news release following the act’s passage that it will block news for Canadian users in order to comply with the law, and will do so before C-18 comes into effect in six months,