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OTTAWA — The Competition Bureau is already looking into Meta’s removal of Canadian news from Facebook and Instagram, a spokesperson said the same day a group of news publishers and broadcasters asked for an investigation into the company’s news blocking.
News Media Canada, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and CBC/Radio-Canada want the Competition Bureau “to use its investigative and prosecutorial tools to protect competition and prohibit Meta from continuing to block Canadians’ access to news content.”
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Senior communications advisor John Power said he could confirm the bureau has received the request. “I can also confirm that the Competition Bureau has been monitoring these developments closely and is in the process of conducting a preliminary review of this matter,” he said.
“The Bureau is gathering information to consider whether this conduct may fall under the Competition Act, including ways that this specific conduct may harm competition.”
Power said if the bureau determines Meta’s actions do fall under the Competition Act, it won’t “hesitate to take appropriate action.” Given the review is ongoing “and there is no conclusion of wrongdoing at this time,” he declined to provide any information about next steps or when to expect them.
Meta began blocking news on its platforms last week in response to the Liberal government’s Online News Act.
The law would force Meta and Google to reach commercial deals with news publishers to share revenues for news stories that appear on their platforms. (Postmedia, publisher of the National Post, is in favour of the legislation.)
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Removing news from its platforms would mean Meta would no longer be subject to the legislation.
In a press release Tuesday morning, the news publishers accused Meta of abusing its dominant market position.
“Meta’s practices are clearly designed to discipline Canadian news companies, prevent them from participating in and accessing the advertising market, and significantly reduce their visibility to Canadians on social media channels,” they said.
“Meta’s anticompetitive conduct, which has attracted the attention of regulators around the world, will strengthen its already dominant position in advertising and social media distribution and harm Canadian journalism.”
They said Meta “effectively has substantial control over access to Canadian news” because Facebook and Instagram combined hold more than 70 per cent of the social media market in Canada.
A Meta spokesperson pointed to a previously issued statement Tuesday, saying the Online News Act is based on a false premise “that Meta benefits unfairly from news content shared on our platforms, when the reverse is true.”
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News outlets voluntarily put their news content on Facebook and Instagram to reach bigger audiences, the company said, adding Canadians can still access news online outside of Meta’s platforms, such as by going to news outlets’ websites directly.
In their letter to Competition commissioner Matthew Boswell, the news publishers said Meta has chosen to harm news organizations, and that its actions threaten the viability of the news industry in Canada.
“Its exclusionary and disciplinary conduct is aimed at preventing or severely limiting Canadian news organizations’ access to a significant portion of their audiences and significantly reducing visits to their news websites and applications,” the news publishers argued.
“Through the loss of this critical distribution channel, Canadian news organizations’ ability to earn online advertising revenue from their websites and applications, as well as from their readers, becomes significantly diminished.”
The groups are asking the Competition Bureau to prioritize their “urgent” request.
Keldon Bester, co-founder of the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project, said there is merit to the news outlets’ argument but it’s not clear whether the case would meet the technical requirements under the Competition Act.
While the “heart of the matter is merited for a number of reasons,” Bester said he doesn’t believe the application as a complaint will be successful.
“There’s merit to speaking out to say, these firms are clearly using their power to degrade the quality of their product in response to legislation counter to their interests, but the Competition Act is a hammer for the screw.”
Advocacy group Friends said in a statement that Meta’s market dominance is “a direct threat to Canadian consumers. This call for action is the best way to address this threat.”
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMibWh0dHBzOi8vbmF0aW9uYWxwb3N0LmNvbS9uZXdzL25ld3MtcHVibGlzaGVycy1icm9hZGNhc3RlcnMtYXNrLWNvbXBldGl0aW9uLWJ1cmVhdS10by1zdG9wLW1ldGFzLW5ld3MtYmxvY2tpbmfSAQA?oc=5
2023-08-08 19:18:45Z
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