Meta Will Test Blocking News For Some Canadians

CTV News is reporting that Meta will begin testing the blocking of news sites in Canada. If the argument is that the social media giants are unfairly benefitting from content from Canadian news organizations, this move should be moot as the ‘stealing’ would now be stopping. Unfortunately the opposite is likely the case, and the news organizations will find out how important the free traffic and promotion they are getting from social media giants really is. It feels a bit like killing the golden goose to get the eggs. The move is designed to “work out the kinks” before permanently blocking news on its platforms when the Canadian government passes the Online News Act. According to CTV News, the test “will affect up to five percent of its 24 million Canadian users.”

“The company says the randomly selected users won’t be able to see some content including news links as well as reels, which are short-form videos, and stories, which are photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours.” Media organizations will be chosen at random.