Most Canadians still unaware of Meta’s news ban

Only 41 per cent of Facebook users and 26 per cent of Instagram users know that news organizations are no longer able to distribute content on those platforms.

A majority of Facebook and Instagram users still do not know that news organizations can no longer publish news content on those platforms, nearly three years after Meta imposed its news block, according to a recent report. Experts say, however, that misinformation has not become widespread on the social media networks. The Online News Act, passed in June 2023, requires major technology companies to provide financial compensation for news content produced by Canadian media organizations and made available on their platforms.

In response to the legislation, Meta chose to block content from Canadian news organizations on Facebook and Instagram. According to a report published in late June by McGill University’s Media Ecosystem Observatory (MEO), only 41% of Facebook users and 26% of Instagram users know that news organizations are no longer able to distribute content on those platforms. The report is based on responses from 1,518 participants in a nationwide online survey.

According to the MEO report, limited attention to current affairs and a broad understanding of what constitutes news may help explain the public’s confusion about the block. In practice, Meta’s implementation of the block has been uneven, Aengus Bridgman, director of the MEO and an assistant professor at McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy, told Le Devoir. Some media outlets, including those focused on sports news, were not targeted by Meta and remain accessible on its platforms.

Others have adopted workarounds, such as creating new accounts. Among users, private messages and screenshots of news articles continue to circulate informally, which may also help explain why many Canadians remain unaware of the block, the MEO report says. A Decline in Public Awareness?

Even so, it is difficult to determine whether people are better informed—or less informed—than they were before. Among Facebook and Instagram users who are aware of Meta’s decision, 45 per cent say they began visiting news websites directly, while 22 per cent report that the news block on the platforms did not change their media habits, according to MEO data. The effects of the block may be greater, however, among people who are unaware that it exists.

Before the block was introduced, Facebook and Instagram news feeds could serve as gateways to information for people who were not actively seeking it out, said Alexandre Coutant, a professor in the Department of Social and Public Communication at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). “People are losing a space where news organizations appeared through conversations, social connections and algorithmic recommendations,” he said. According to another MEO report, published in 2024, Meta’s news block resulted in a loss of 11 million daily views for news content on Facebook and Instagram.

That estimate remains valid today, Aengus Bridgman confirmed to Le Devoir, even though news consumption habits have changed significantly since then—particularly in the wake of the block. “An increasing number of Canadians are getting their political news from influencers and content creators on social media,” the professor said. For Alexandre Coutant, the growing diversity of news sources is not inherently cause for concern, as many creators are capable of producing high-quality, rigorous content.

That analysis should not, however, replace the “factual raw material and reporting work” provided by traditional news organizations, he argues. Their content is now far less accessible on Meta’s platforms. As a result, content that is less thoroughly sourced and subject to fewer checks may gain ground on those platforms, Aengus Bridgman said.

“It’s not necessarily misinformation,” he said of the content that has filled the space once occupied by traditional news organizations. “But it’s also not a rich, well-sourced account with multiple points of reference.”