Banning news content by meta significantly reduced news engagement in Canada: Study

 

A Media Ecosystem Observatory study found Canadians' engagement with news content on social media platforms has dropped by 43 percent. The decline in interest in social media for people's news comes after local news content was banned on meta platforms. After the Canadian government passed the Online News Act in June 2023, Canadian news content was banned by Meta. This has forced tech companies to enter into contracts with news publishers for the use of their content. With this, META banned local media from posting Canadian news content on social media platforms.

This was a major setback for local news outlets that rely on Facebook. The study found that 30 percent of these are currently inactive on social media. Only 22 percent of Canadians know the ban exists. According to the study, Canadians watch less news online. Facebook and Instagram reported a drop of more than 11 million viewers.

The Media Ecosystem Observatory is a research initiative led by McGill University and the University of Toronto. Although they receive help from the federal government, the researchers work independently, not under the government.