Last week, Facebook unilaterally blocked all Australian news content on it’s platform.
The controversial move was in response to proposed legislation by Australian lawmakers requiring Facebook and google to pay fees to Australian publishers for linking to their news.
Now Canada is threatening to follow Australia’s lead reports CBC.
The Canadian Heritage Minister, Steven Guilbeault is now in charge of drafting similar legislation.
Mr Guilbeault expressed his views that Canada could adopt the Australian model which means Facebook and Google would have to pay for news content. He is also considering a French model which forces large tech platforms to open talks with news content providers. hi is also looking at forming alliances with other countries to formulate a co-ordinated approach.
“We are working to see which model would be the most appropriate,” he said, adding he spoke last week to his French, Australian, German and Finnish counterparts about working together on ensuring fair compensation for web content.
If Canada tries to force Facebook to pay for news then it could end up very badly for too, just like Australia. There has been uproar down under since Facebook’s decision with residents calling their representatives and demanding that something be done so that Facebook’s news pages can get reinstated as soon as possible.
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