CBC Says Government-Facebook Feud to Blame for Declining Website Traffic

People walk into the CBC building in Toronto on April 4, 2012. The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette

Ottawa’s financial fight with Facebook has damaged CBC’s popularity online, according to financial statements that show the media firm lost millions of website visitors last year.

CBC.ca has long been the most viewed news site in the country with content uploaded by upward of 1,000 staff writers and editors.

The public broadcasting corporation’s third quarter financial report revealed the English language website had dropped 23 percent from 20.7 million in 2022 to roughly 16 million unique visitors per month last year.

“Digital reach for the CBC is trending below target due to Facebook’s news withdrawal in Canada,” CBC said in its report, which was obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter.

Facebook parent company Meta announced last summer it would block news content for Canadian users on its platforms, following months of threats to strike back against the Online News Act, Bill C-18, which compels tech companies to pay Canadian media outlets for news content linked on their platforms. Meta began the process of ending news availability in Canada on its Facebook and Instagram platforms shortly after the bill received royal assent, saying C-18 was “fundamentally flawed legislation.”

The Online News Act was conceived as a way to bolster the Canadian news industry, which has seen its revenue dwindle as advertising has shifted to big-tech platforms.

CBC said in its report that its declining website traffic was caused by Facebook’s suspension of its news links.

“We are facing financial pressures resulting from structural challenges affecting all of the media industry in Canada such as rising production costs, declining television advertising revenues and fierce competition from the American digital giants,” the report said.

CBC Funding Boost

Documents released by Canadian Heritage last month revealed CBC would receive $1.4 billion in funding in 2024-25, up from the $1.3 billion it received in the previous fiscal year. The increase amounts to $96.1 million, which the department says is primarily attributable to salary increases following the ratification of collective agreements.

The Treasury Board also announced last month that CBC was not on the list of government bodies whose funds would be reallocated as part of Ottawa’s belt-tightening exercise.

Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said the government didn’t want “to jeopardize” CBC’s “vital role… when it’s a critical time to keep Canadians connected and informed from coast to coast-to-coast.”

“Of course, we don’t want to endanger the mission and the mandate that CBC-Radio Canada needs to deliver to the Canadian population, especially when it comes to the official languages,” she added.

CBC launched its free news website in 1995. The Senate transport and communications committee recommended in 2015 that  it charge users a subscription fee to offset declining television ad revenues, but the company has yet to do so.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.