Heritage Minister reacts to Facebook ‘threat’ over online news bill

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OTTAWA — Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez is hitting again at Meta, which owns Fb, after the corporate didn’t rule out banning Canadians from viewing and sharing information on the social community.

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The Liberal authorities launched a invoice earlier this month that may drive digital giants to compensate information shops for reusing their work.

Canada’s invoice to assist the information trade is modelled on a legislation in Australia, the place Fb launched a short lived ban on viewing and sharing information on its web site final 12 months in protest of the draft laws.

An government from Meta Canada didn’t rule out an identical response right here when pressed on the difficulty Tuesday at a parliamentary committee.

Rodriguez stated, although Fb may do it, he didn’t anticipate that may be widespread with Canadians.

“They made the identical menace in Australia and on the finish of the day they stayed,” Rodriguez advised reporters Wednesday forward of the Liberal caucus assembly.

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“It wasn’t properly acquired by the Australian individuals and I don’t suppose it might be properly acquired by the Canadian individuals.”

Rodriguez added in French that the “menace shouldn’t be making me work quicker.”

Information Media Canada, which represents the nation’s information trade, stated: “These ways didn’t work in Australia they usually received’t work in Canada.

Meta Canada’s Rachel Curran was requested by a Conservative MP on the Commons public security committee on Tuesday whether or not a ban just like the one Fb launched in Australia is off the desk in Canada.

“We’re nonetheless taking a look at the entire choices based mostly on our analysis of the laws,” Curran replied.

Curran additionally advised the committee the corporate was “not consulted” on the contents of the invoice.

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Rodriguez stated this was not the case.

“They lied,” he advised reporters.

“Fb yesterday in committee stated they’d not been consulted, which isn’t true,” he stated.

He stated he had met Meta personally on Feb. 10 and that his workers spoke with the corporate frequently.

He stated Meta had not seen the invoice earlier than it was tabled within the Home of Commons, which is in step with parliamentary procedures, however they had been consulted together with different platforms.

“For us, it’s a easy precept. The door is open. We’re prepared to debate,” he stated.

On Tuesday, Curran advised the committee the tech large was unaware of the “scope” of the laws till it was tabled and that it had “some fairly critical considerations.”

Curran stated on Wednesday Meta had “accepted a telephone name” from Rodriguez’s workplace shortly earlier than the invoice was tabled, however was not consulted on the scope or substance of the invoice.

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“Meta stands for evidence-based coverage developed in response to how the web really works,” Curran stated in an announcement. “We stay up for participating with the federal government, Parliament and Canadians as soon as we now have accomplished an in depth assessment of the proposed laws to extra absolutely perceive what the invoice entails.”

NDP Chief Jagmeet Singh stated the NDP would assist the Liberal authorities’s on-line information invoice to “ensure internet giants pay their fair proportion” for reusing information.

“Fb will elevate considerations as a result of they don’t wish to pay their fair proportion,” he stated.

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Meta funds a fellowship that helps journalism positions at The Canadian Press.