Facebook Locks Horns With Canada Over Latest Legislation Concerning News Publishers

Meta Platforms, Inc META confirmed plans to end access to news on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada once parliament-approved legislation requiring internet firms to reimburse news publishers comes into effect.

The Senate upper chamber approved the Online News Act Thursday, and it will become law after bagging assent from the governor-general, Reuters reports.

Canada's media industry proposed tighter regulation of tech companies to prevent them from elbowing news businesses out of the online advertising market.

Facebook always maintained that news has no economic value to the company, and its users did not use the platform for news.

The act drafts rules to force platforms like Facebook and Alphabet Inc's GOOG GOOGL Google to negotiate commercial deals and pay news publishers for their content, a step Australia implemented in 2021.

The U.S. technology companies slammed the rules. Google has argued that Canada's law is more expansive than Australia's and Europe's.

In June, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged Meta and Google of employing "bullying tactics" against the legislation.

Google and Facebook struck deals with Australian media companies after they offered amendments to the legislation.

Price Actions: META shares traded lower by 0.61% at $283.15 premarket on the last check Friday. GOOG shares traded lower by 0.65% at $123.05.

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