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Last night, I was on a Facebook page for travelers to Belize. I was gobsmacked when a woman said she was unable to post a link to an important story about three American women who died in a hotel room in a popular San Pedro resort. The reason? A Canadian government ban on news on the social media platform. All news. That's right. Canadian citizens cannot post or view any links to news sites.
I remember reading about this when Canada passed a law in 2023 in an effort to extort money from the big social media platforms, but I somehow missed that it was ongoing.
A bill that mandates tech giants pay news outlets for their content has come into effect in Canada amid an ongoing dispute with Facebook and Instagram owner Meta over the law.
Some have hailed it as a game-changer that sets out a permanent framework that will see a steady drip of funds from wealthy tech companies to Canada's struggling journalism industry.
But it has also been met with resistance by Google and Meta - the only two companies big enough to be encompassed by the law.
In response, over the summer, Meta blocked access to news on Facebook and Instagram for Canadians.
Look, as a content creator and a managing editor of PJ Media, I'd love to be paid a few cents every time someone posted one of our links to social media—but not at the expense of our freedom.
We want our stories to be read and shared widely, but having the government throttle news to bleed some money from the big tech giants?
Absolutely not.
It's a wonder Canadians have put up with the Orwellian censorship for so long. I guess it goes to show that once people have their spirits broken, it's difficult to claw their freedom back.
I have no great love for Facebook. After all, it spent the entire four years of the Biden administration throttling and deprioritizing our content, so very few users saw it. That significantly cut into our revenue, and we have still not recovered from it. Moreover, as we've all learned over the last few years, our very own government was colluding to keep our content hidden, especially when it came to stories about COVID-19. It shocks me that our friends to the North can't share any links to PJ Media stories.
All I want is for the social media platforms and governments to take their thumbs off the scales. Let the best, most popular content rise to the top.
I'm cautiously optimistic that we've turned a corner on all the censorship (not so for our poor friends in Canada). Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg claims he's getting rid of the bogus fact-checking and will allow more diversity of opinions. We'll see. One thing I do know: The American spirit has not been broken. Between DOGE and all the whistleblower testimony we're seeing, the corruption and cronyism are being dealt with on a scale never before seen in the history of the USA. If only Canada would take some cues from the MAGA movement.
