We are not blocking you from seeing our news, it’s Meta and the government
Published August 3, 2023 at 1:19 pm
If you regularly see important, breaking news stories from insauga.com and all its brands on Facebook and Instagram, you might have noticed that our content isn’t coming up as often as it used to.
Some of you might not be seeing our stories at all.
For over 11 years, insauga.com has been fortunate to have connected with millions of readers throughout the GTA and southern Ontario through social media. It’s often through Facebook and Instagram that readers have learned more about what’s happening in Mississauga, Brampton and Hamilton, as well as the Halton, Durham and Niagara regions.
Things are changing due to the introduction of the Online News Act (or Bill C-18), a bill meant to force big tech companies such as Google and Meta to compensate Canadian media outlets like insauga.com for news content appearing on their platforms.
This has prompted companies to pledge to block Canadian news content on their sites.
Earlier this week, Meta announced that it is officially moving to end news access for Canadians on its Facebook and Instagram platforms over the next few weeks.
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That means links to our articles will no longer be viewable to people who follow us or find us on Facebook and Instagram.
This change will apply to all Canadian news publications.
While we understand the idea behind the legislation, we believe it will do more to harm both Canadian news companies and our readers, who will no longer have easy access to breaking and important local content via Google, Facebook, Instagram and the newly-launched Threads. We did not ask for this legislation.
In talking to others in the industry, we have learned no media companies asked for compensation. We do not believe this bill was well thought-out since we are playing a game of chicken to see which side will back down first, and the only people that lose are the Canadian people and the hundreds of publishers stuck in the middle.
Facebook and Instagram’s Meta Business has not been affected, so advertising can continue as normal.
“Over the course of the next few weeks, I and other people in the industry will continue to advocate for our readers and publications and will be in communication with the Heritage Minister in charge of this portfolio,” says Khaled Iwamura, insauga.com’s founder and publisher.
Should the federal government not reach a better resolution with big tech companies, we want our readers to know that they can always access our stories, which cover everything from crime and politics to real estate and food, at www.insauga.com, www.inbrampton.com, www.inhalton.com, www.inthehammer.com, www.inniagararegion.com and www.indurham.ca.
You can also find us here:
TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@insauga
X (formerly known as Twitter):
@insauga
@inbrampton
@inhalton
@inthehammer
We hope that the government and tech giants can come up with a suitable compromise, and we are optimistic that both sides will be able to come to an agreement that benefits this country’s media companies (both big and small) and all of our millions of readers who rely on us for information about what’s happening in their communities.
We are also optimistic because big tech companies recently had a similar battle with the Australian government. While the situations were not identical, Australia made a deal with Meta, allowing Australian news to remain accessible on its platform.
To our readers, thank you for always supporting insauga.com.
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