MENZIES: How many independent media sources have to struggle before reviewing Bill C-18?

If you’re reading this, you were not re-directed via Facebook. 

Bill C-18 has stopped our Lakeland Connect content from being seen by most of the nearly 34,000 Facebook viewers we’ve amassed. 

I did a test yesterday with a Facebook Live video which some people were able to access. Moments later, the page went dark for me, and I could no longer see the content. 

So it goes in our brave new social space. 

What we lose by the ability not to have our posts seen on Facebook, is the conversation that is created by a big news story. 

Now, I know that often many of these comments are unproductive. But there are many times when it serves as a useful gauge to see how people are feeling. 

Some comments, “another one released,” are predictable. Other times, you do get insight into how someone views the news they are receiving, and that is useful to both fellow residents, and for me in writing the story. 

You might be the most informed news reader out there. How often do you search it out? Once in the morning and then after supper? 

What the Meta ban does is also limit the ability for extremely important news to spread fast. 

There are times when something needs to get out to a wide audience and people want to share it. Facebook allowed that easily. 

I guess if there’s someone armed and dangerous in Lakeland, or if there’s another ER closure at one of our hospitals, you just have to hope to see it early enough when you prowl through the website. 

Or from the very serious, to something less-so, like did you hear that one of Canada’s greatest artists Robbie Robertson died yesterday?

Here’s the question I have for the federal government – how many companies have to suffer, how many independents have to struggle, how many people have to go uninformed to review the legislation you created? 

Look, I have my fair share of problems with Facebook. 

They have dealt in the world of shadowbans, manipulative algorithms, fact-checkers, and censorship. 

If the feds were doing this to take on the tech giants for its malfeasance of censorship, then you would see me join the cause. 

But the federal government has decided to take up a fight that will leave many companies that aren’t government funded and have had a CRTC dial for several decades (which if you want to talk about regulation…) with limited recourse. 

This ain’t it babe. 

This is about the biggest players feeling that social media is the root of their money problems, and then trying to charge the service for using it. And not only that — but the messaging has been so poor, most Canadians don’t have a clue about why it’s happening. 

It’s to protect democracy! Fighting the anti-trust of these tech giants! Freedom of the press!

It doesn’t make much sense. This is a simplified comparison, but it’s like a news company charging the delivery boy from dropping off papers at someone’s doorstep. 

If I ran Facebook, I would probably react in the same way. 

So how many independent voices have to be shuttered before this matters to the powers that be? 

Lakeland Connect has vowed and will always vow to never charge our readers for our news. It’s not their responsibility to pay for news. 

That’s how we feel. 

That doesn’t mean it’s free, it just means we have to offer advertising. 

This is about another blow to local news – which if CBC abandoned during COVID, why would we believe they care now? 

This is about the ability of independent ventures to have a future in the country. 

Not everyone reads, watches, or even respects Lakeland Connect content. That’s fine and even more than that, it’s their right. 

We have taken risks and provided content beyond the traditional scope of an “online newspaper.” 

And we would like to continue doing that by casting the widest net we can. 

So, how many people have to be hurt by this government intervention until it matters to them?