Meta suffered a news blackout amid Canada wildfires

Meta suffered a news blackout amid Canada wildfires

“No one can know what is true and what is false,” he said. Especially when people are in an emergency situation, timing is the “be all and end all”. Many Canadians rely on online networks for news.

Meta began blocking links to news and content from Canadian media publishers and broadcasters on its Facebook and Instagram sites on August 1. Local media pages are no longer accessible via these networks.

The group was responding to Canadian legislation requiring online companies to pay Canadian media for their content.

The law, known as the Online News Act, came into force in June and is intended to support Canada’s ailing media sector. It urges major internet companies to sign contracts with local media to pay them a fair fee for using their content. Otherwise, the fee must be officially determined.

Google later announced that it would no longer link content from local media to its site. Google and Meta dominate the online advertising business. They have been accused of stealing revenue from traditional media while profiting from their online content.

In Canada, many areas have been affected by large-scale forest fires for several weeks. This situation has recently come to a head especially in the western part of the North American country. The order to evacuate tens of thousands of people was still in effect earlier this week. More than 1,000 fires were burning across the country at the start of the week, according to official figures.

About 14 million hectares of forest have already burned in Canada this year – the equivalent of the size of Greece. 4 people died in the forest fire. According to scientists, climate change is favoring more frequent and violent wildfires.

AFP