The federal government is suspending all of its advertising on both Facebook and Instagram in response to their parent company, Meta, saying it will block all Canadian news from the platforms later this year once Ottawa’s new Online News Act comes into effect.
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez made the announcement while speaking to reporters in Ottawa on July 5, saying that the government hopes its action will bring Meta back to the negotiating table.
The Online News Act, formerly known as Bill C-18, will
require digital news intermediaries like Google and Meta to pay Canadian media outlets for any of their content that gets linked or shared on the tech giants’ platforms.
The new legislation is set to take effect this December.
Both Google and Meta have
announced their intentions to block Canadian news on their platforms once the act takes effect, but Mr. Rodriguez says the government will only be halting its advertising on Meta’s platforms because it believes it can come to a resolution with Google before December.
“Meta, on the other hand, had a very aggressive campaign,” Mr. Rodriguez said in French. “They refused to discuss and they did not want to compensate the media accordingly, and so we’ve decided to suspend advertising on Facebook and Instagram immediately.”
Meta previously said it would not negotiate with the federal government over the Online News Act, adding that it had repeatedly warned Ottawa prior to the legislation passing that it would block Canadian news in response. Google announced on June 29 that it would be following suit—a move Mr. Rodriguez called “surprising” because he said the government and Google had still been negotiating at the time. The heritage minister also told reporters on July 5 that he is confident Ottawa will “resolve” Google’s concerns surrounding the Online News Act by making changes while drafting the legislation’s regulatory framework over the next few months.
“The platforms know that we’re at the table,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “We’re ready to talk to them. We’re open to discuss.”
The minister added that he met with Google two weeks ago and hopes to soon have another meeting with its representatives.
The federal government spent just under $40 million on Facebook and Instagram advertisements between 2017 and 2022, according to Ottawa’s “Annual Report on Government of Canada Advertising Activities.” Ottawa’s yearly advertising numbers on those platforms were highest in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 fiscal years, during which time the federal government spent $11.6 million and $11.4 million, respectively.
The federal government also advertised more on Meta’s platforms than on any other social media application, with Twitter being the second highest. 
