Facebook may block news contents

Facebook (NASDAQ:META) warned on Friday that it may block the sharing of news content on its platform in Canada amid concerns about legislation that would force digital platforms to pay news publishers.

The Online News Act, introduced in April, would set rules to force platforms like Meta's Facebook and Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google to enter into commercial agreements and pay news publishers for their content, similar to a groundbreaking law passed in Australia last year. The legislation is being considered by a parliamentary committee to which the US social media company says it was not invited to share its concerns. "We believe the Online News Act misrepresents the relationship between platforms and news publishers and we urge the government to reconsider its approach," Marc Dinsdale, head of media partnerships at Meta Canada, said in a blog post. "In the face of unfavorable legislation based on incorrect assumptions that run counter to the logic of how Facebook operates, we believe it is important to be transparent about the possibility that we may have to reconsider allowing news content sharing in Canada," Dinsdale wrote. Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, who introduced the bill, said Friday that the government continues to have "constructive discussions" with Facebook. "All we ask of tech giants like Facebook is that they make fair deals with news organizations when they profit from their work," Rodriguez said in an emailed statement. The law proposes that digital platforms with a "bargaining imbalance" with news businesses - measured by metrics such as a firm's global revenue - make fair deals that would then be assessed by a regulator. Dinsdale said news content is not a draw for Facebook users and does not generate significant revenue for the company. When Australia, which has led global efforts to rein in the power of tech firms, proposed a law forcing them to pay local media for news content, Google threatened to shut down its Australian search engine and Facebook cut all third-party content from its Australian accounts for more than a week. Both companies reached an agreement with Australian media companies after a series of changes to the law. Follow Global Economic Developments on Social Media! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Facebook account! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Instagram account! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Twitter account!