What Meta’s and Google’s news blocking means for indie media, and for you
Posted August 3, 2023 7:12 am.
In today’s Big Story Podcast, Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, has made good on a threat to block all news from Canada on its platforms. Google is promising to do much the same thing, and has already tested its capacity to do so. How, exactly, this will impact the Canadian news landscape, remains to be seen.
Sarah Krichel is the social media manager at The Tyee, an independent publication based in British Columbia. She says Google and Meta’s responses to Bill C-18 are leading media organizations to rethink the way’s they foster engagement online.
“It is highlighting a bigger question of where we’re building this relationship with our audience, as well as who is it we’ve been relying on this whole time to have that very valuable relationship, and the answer is that we’ve been relying on Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, etc.,” she says.
So, how do Canadians find specific news without Google, Facebook and Instagram? And if they’re not encountering reliable news sources on those platforms, what will they find in their place?
You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify.
You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.
