Meta Stands Strong Amid Canada's News Ban, Tackles China-Linked Disinformation Surge

Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms, Inc META hit the headlines Tuesday for reports indicating Canada's news ban's failure to dent Facebook usage and the company's success in disrupting a disinformation campaign linked to Chinese law enforcement.

Daily active users of Facebook and time spent on the app in Canada have stayed roughly unchanged since parent company Meta started blocking news in August, Reuters cites independent tracking firms.

Meta made a move in protest of the country's Online News Act that forced the companies to negotiate commercial deals with news publishers to use their content.

Meta said links to news articles have no economic value to the company.

Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL Google also looks to intercept news from search results in Canada once the law comes into effect.

Meanwhile, Meta took down over 7,700 accounts and 930 pages on Facebook concerning a disinformation campaign linked to Chinese law enforcement.

The influence network generated positive posts about China, focusing on China's Xinjiang province, which gained notoriety for the government's treatment of the Uyghur minority group. 

The network present on nearly every popular social media platform also tried to spread negative commentary about the U.S. and disinformation in multiple languages about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Previously, Meta faced flak for its inability to remove misinformation about sensitive topics and countries, including Russia and China.

Price Action: META shares traded lower by 0.17% at $289.78 on the last check Tuesday.