iPolitics By iPolitics. Published on Feb 19, 2021 5:58am Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault pictured in July 2019. (Bruce Campion-Smith/Toronto Star)
Making Big Tech pay: Canada vowed to be the next country to go after Facebook to pay for the news. Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault condemned Facebook’s action in Australia where it blocked all Australian news content over proposed legislation requiring it, and Google, to pay for news links. He said it would not deter Ottawa from crafting similar legislation.
Tory council rejects Sloan appeal: The Conservative Party’s national council has rejected the former Conservative MP Derek Sloan’s appeal to be allowed to run as a party candidate in the next election,
Facebook unfriends Australia: uproar as news pages go dark
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If a tree falls in the forest but it’s not posted on Facebook, did it actually fall? For many people, social media is their primary source of information about the outside world. Which is why it’s so troubling that on Thursday, Australians woke up to find that Facebook had blocked content from most news sources, along with a host of other sites that provide critical information.
The move comes in response to a bill that is currently before the Australian Parliament, which seeks to compel Google and Facebook to negotiate revenue-sharing agreements with content creators. For months, the world has been watching the Australian experiment play out as the two tech giants continue to siphon revenue from publishers around the world, which has caused a crisis in journalism and led to many newsrooms closing their doors.