(Adds Canada’s decision to stop advertising on Meta)

Toronto (Canada), July 5. The Canadian government and Quebecor, one of Canada’s largest media conglomerates, announced on Wednesday that they would suspend advertising on Facebook and Instagram following Meta’s decision to boycott a new law that forces social networks to pay local publishers to distribute your information.

Quebecor, which includes everything from TV stations, magazines and newspapers to record labels, accused Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, in a statement of “abusing” its position as well as “violating the principles foundation of any company that believes in the importance of reliable and trustworthy information for a healthy democracy.”

Shortly after Quebecor’s announcement, Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodríguez said the Canadian federal government had taken the same action in the face of Meta’s “unreasonable and irresponsible” attitude.

On June 22, the Canadian Parliament approved the Internet News Act, which requires Internet platforms to pay media outlets to include their content in their services.

Following the approval, Meta and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, announced that they would block access to news from Canadian media on all of their platforms to protest the law and to avoid having to compensate the media companies. ‘information.

But Rodríguez added that although Google has also decided to block the content, “it is open to finding a solution” so that the Canadian government does not suspend advertising spending on its platforms for the time being.

“Meta, on the other hand, doesn’t talk to us unless they call this morning,” the Canadian minister said.

The Canadian government’s decision to cancel advertising spending in Meta was supported by two opposition parties, the pro-sovereign Parti Québécois (PQ) and the social-democratic New Democratic Party (NPD).

In 2022, Quebecor, which employs 8,800 people, had revenues of 4,352 million Canadian dollars (3,280 million US dollars / approximately 3,018 million euros).

The company explained that Meta’s decision to block its Canadian users from accessing information “or discriminate against Canadian media content on its platforms” is intolerable.

“Given the categorical refusal of Meta to enter into negotiations, Quebecor announces that it will immediately and until further notice withdraw all advertising from its Facebook and Instagram subsidiaries and business units,” added the Canadian company.

The Internet News Act, which has yet to come into force, has been championed by News Media Canada, the country’s newspaper publishers’ association, which has called it a move to even out the power imbalance between publishers and tech giants.

For their part, Meta and Alphabet have justified their opposition to paying the media on the grounds that distributing links to their news is “beneficial” for newspapers and the media. ECE

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