MENZIES: One year later, no news links on Facebook & the feds don’t care

Happy Anniversary! Not so much. 

We’ve crossed the one year threshold of links from news websites being blocked in Canada on Meta’s platforms Facebook & Instagram. 

You remember Bill C-18, don’t you? Unfortunately, I’m not sure most do. 

There is a reason ya know Lakeland Connect doesn’t post news links on our Facebook feed (a page we were given access to again after 5-6 weeks of total freezeout last summer, but Instagram we remain blocked) – it’s because we can’t, you can’t, no one can. 

Copy any link from a news agency and try to post it, it won’t work. You’ll be greeted with this message: “In response to Canadian government legislation, news content can’t be shared.”

The federal bill came into effect last summer and  Zuckerberg and the Powers That Be in Facebookland said enough with it. 

In summary, the idea is that this bill requires the tech giant to pay news companies for news companies to post their news link on the tech giant’s page. 

Because Facebook makes money through their own advertising streams, it is apparently their problem that news companies – the same ones who benefit from sharing their information on an easy to use, easy to share quickly platform – don’t make as much money as they used to. 

The bill is as ass-backwards as any this edition of the federal government has concocted, and a year later, there is not a word of progress on this issue. No negotiation, no progress, and no meeting of the minds (a loose term here). 

So uninhibited by this change to their users, so little the dent bludgeoned into Facebook’s bottom line, they are reversing course in Australia, and holding the line. 

Basically Zuckerberg has said, if you news companies are so upset that we’re taking your ad revenue, we won’t use news links to help us gain revenue anymore. We’ll take our ball and go. 

And this is apparently shocking to some legacy outlets and the federal Heritage Minister. Sometimes it’s shocking when cause meets effect. 

This legislation, allegedly meant to help news companies, is only hurting news companies – at least the smaller, non-legacy media. The big boys, who were the only voices advocating for this, grasping by any means necessary for previous profits, are the only ones that stand to gain in this fight.   

So a year later, here we stand. A nation that as a result, reads less about the news, is more unaware, and just cares less about the news. And I don’t blame you one bit. 

But you know it’s bad when even CBC is publishing a story that goes against the narrative. 

Last week they discussed the plight of small, independent media outlets, who are struggling to hang on with a handicapped ability to get relevant information out fast to the most amount of people. 

The highlighted publication of Black Tartan Media bears much resemblance to Lakeland Connect, except they didn’t get their Facebook page back. They are all but forgotten. 

But who really cares? The federal government? Give your head shake. 

Look, Meta is not some angelic company. But if we’re going to pick a fight, let’s pick one about censorship on the platform, algorithm malfeasance, dubious fact-checkers, and fake accounts, if anything.

This is also a gentle reminder that many of the small outlets that are exclusively digital are vehemently against this bill, the same ones that are supposed to benefit the most from this.

There is no daylight, timeline, or end in sight to the madness. 

So I guess in the meantime, continue to take screenshots of news stories and post them as images; or like us, hope people will go to your website out of routine in an unnecessarily complicated way. 

Once again, Happy Anniversary!