Group calls for Canadian boycott of Facebook, Instagram on Aug. 23 and 24

An advocacy group is calling on Canadians to boycott Facebook and Instagram later this week.

The Friends of Canadian Broadcasting group is asking people to stop posting content on Meta’s platforms on Aug. 23 and 24.

The group says the move is meant to show that Canadians won’t be pushed around by Meta, which decided to pull news from Canadian publishers from its platforms in response to legislation that recently passed.

The Online News Act requires tech giants Meta and Google to make deals with news publishers whose work they link to or repurpose on their platforms.

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So far, Meta has shown an unwillingness to cooperate on a potential deal.

The group’s executive director Marla Boltman says the boycott will show Meta that if news leaves the platform, so will users.

“Eyeballs on their platforms are the most valuable commodity Meta has,” she added in a statement.

“Losing many Canadian users, even for a short period of time, will get their attention. But more importantly, it will give Canadians an opportunity to demonstrate their frustration and disappointment with Meta.”