Meta news ban intensifying Canadians legacy media break [Video]

As Canada heads into an election this month, voters looking for campaign news on Facebook or Instagram will find material filtered through online creators and influencers — and no links to articles from major media outlets.

For more than a year, social media giant Meta has cut access to news websites on its sites, rebuffing Canada’s government over a law called the Online News Act and its requirement that platforms compensate journalism outlets for their content.

Because of the quirks of how this blockage is applied, users can still find news content on Meta-owned platforms in screenshots, memes and videos, but sometimes lacking the context of traditional reporting.

“It’s just not necessarily coming from those highest quality sources,” said Angus Lockhart of the Dais public policy think tank at Toronto Metropolitan University.

With more people getting information from platforms, the ban appears to further undermine the role of traditional journalism …