Hajra Naz
On Thursday, Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) announced that it will start testing a feature that would prevent select users and publishers from accessing or sharing specific news articles in Canada on its platforms Facebook and Instagram.
The social media juggernaut added that the small percentage of Canadian users participating in testing would be informed if they seek to share news items during the trial phase, which will last for several weeks.
In reaction to the planned “Online News Act” in Canada, the test was created. The law, which was first proposed in April of last year, would propel organizations like Meta and Alphabet Inc., the parent organization of Google (GOOGL.O), to go into business arrangements and repay Canadian news publishers for their material.
In March, Meta gave a warning that on the off chance that the proposed measure was passed in its ongoing structure, Canadians would presently not have the option to get to news material on its foundation.
The exams were labeled “unacceptable” by Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, who presented the measure last year.
“It’s a threat when a major tech company tells us, ‘If you don’t do this or that, then I’m pulling the plug,'” the author writes. In response to a threat, I’ve never taken any action out of fear, Rodriguez said to Reuters.
As a trial run for a potential response to the online journalism bill, Google launched comparable tests earlier this year that blocked news items for select Canadian customers.
