New Delhi: Australian news outlet The Australia Today has never been banned by Canada, but rather blocked by Facebook’s parent company Meta due to the company’s business strategy to de-emphasise news on its platforms, the Canadian government told ThePrint Saturday.
“Australia Today has never been banned in Canada. The news site and video of media comments by both India’s Foreign Minister Jaishankar and Australia’s Foreign Minister Wong, can be easily and freely viewed in Canada,” said a spokesperson from Global Affairs Canada in a statement to ThePrint.
The statement added: “In Canada, Meta, which owns and operates Facebook and Instagram, blocked the sharing of news content on their sites, irrespective of the outlet. This is due to a decision by Meta to block news on its social media platforms in Canada from 2023. This is in line with a broader business strategy on Meta’s part to de‑emphasise news on its platforms globally.”
The Indian community outlet in Australia had alleged that earlier last week after airing a press conference of Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his Australian counterpart Penny Wong Tuesday, its social media pages were blocked for users in Canada.
“We at The Australia Today would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to every #news outlet, #journalist, and #supporter who stood by us during a challenging time. The recent restriction and ban on our interview with Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and the press conference with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on #social media, under orders from the Canadian government, have been difficult for our team and those who value free and open #journalism,” said the news outlet in a statement on X Friday.
Statement from The Australia Today:
We at @TheAusToday would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to every #news outlet, #journalist, and #supporter who stood by us during a challenging time. The recent restriction and ban on our interview with Indian External Affairs Minister… pic.twitter.com/53UTd5Le19
— The Australia Today (@TheAusToday) November 7, 2024
The controversy surrounding The Australia Today, came to the forefront after the Ministry of External Affairs during its regular press briefing Thursday, pointed out the blocked access to the news outlet’s social media accounts.
“We understand that social media handles and pages of this particular outlet, an important diaspora outlet, have been blocked and are not available for users in Canada,” said Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs Thursday.
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Access to news websites blocked on Meta platforms in Canada
Jitarth Jai Bharadwaj, Managing Editor of The Australia Today, shared a partial screenshot from the outlet’s Facebook page, which said, “People in Canada cannot see this content.” However, that is a part of a larger message, with a “Learn More” option.
On 1 August 2023, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced the ending of “news availability” for users from Canada to comply with the Online News Act, which was given Royal Assent in June 2023 after passing through the Canadian legislative process.
“In order to comply with the Online News Act, we have begun the process of ending news availability in Canada. These changes start today, and will be implemented for all people accessing Facebook and Instagram in Canada over the course of the next few weeks,” said Meta in a statement on 1 August, 2023.
Specifically for international news outlets, Meta’s statement added: “News publishers and broadcasters outside of Canada will continue to be able to post news links and content, however, that content will not be viewable by people in Canada.”
The Online News Act, which came into effect in 2023 across Canada, was drafted with the aim to ensure that online platforms fairly compensate news publishers when their content is posted on their services, says the Canadian government on its website.
The Act, which mandates payments by tech giants to news publishers across Canada was met with criticism from both Google and Meta, both of which were the only major companies big enough to come under the law’s purview.
While Meta has maintained its position that the law is fundamentally flawed and has refused to negotiate any settlement with Canadian authorities or news publishers, Google struck a deal worth C$100 million a year in June this year.
Following its deal of paying out C$100 million a year indexed to inflation to Canadian news outlets, Ottawa gave Google a 5-year exemption from its Online News Act last week.
However, on Meta’s platforms—Facebook and Instagram—any links to news articles still remain unavailable for Canadian users. Canadians can still access the links and stories by going directly to the news outlets websites.
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