In the months leading up to the effective date of the Online News Act, then-Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge urged the CRTC to investigate Meta’s decision to block news links on its Facebook and Instagram platforms as its method of compliance. Pointing to reports of people screenshotting news articles and the use of other workarounds the blocking of news links that came in response to the Online News Act (Bill C-18), St-Onge said “I cant wait to see what the CRTC will do when the law is fully enforced on Dec. 19.” As the law took effect and the issue grew, the CRTC did indeed send Meta a letter in October 2024 asking for information on how the company was complying with the legislation. I wrote about this request soon afterward, providing a detailed analysis of the law that sought to explain why some news sites might fall outside the scope of the legislation along with the legal grey area of screenshots.
This week, the CRTC finally responded to Meta on the issue. For the moment, it would appear that the Commission has no plans to take action. It states:
We are writing to advise that Commission staff have reviewed all the information submitted by Meta, while actively monitoring the situation. Commission staff has noted the steps that Meta has taken to implement and enforce its policies regarding news content. We will continue to monitor the situation and will follow up as needed.
In other words, there are no plans to take regulatory action against Meta. Given how the law was drafted, that is the right call. It has been clear for years that the companies captured by the legislation (Google and Meta) could comply by stopping to link to the news (Meta), negotiating some sort of payment deal (Google), or following the provisions for an arbitrated settlement (no one). The law was flawed from day one and the CRTC has apparently decided that more regulation that would undoubtedly end up being challenged in court was not going to fix it.
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