Though Meta’s block of news availability on the social media giant’s platforms is already taking its toll on web traffic to news sites, local media outlets aren’t united on a path forward.
Just over two weeks ago, Meta — which owns Facebook and Instagram — began ending the availability of news on those sites in Canada in response to the passage of Bill C-18, the Online News Act, which takes effect by the end of this year.
Paul MacNeill of Island Press Limited, which publishes several weekly community papers in Prince Edward Island, and Jeff Elgie, whose company Village Media publishes around 21 community news websites in Ontario, both spoke on CBC’s The House,
