A day without Facebook or Instagram. This is what journalists and public relations professionals are proposing on September 15 to denounce the blocking of news by the giant Meta.
“September 15 is not to go on social media, to abstain for a day, not to interact, not to go there to show your support [to the media]”, explained Michaël Nguyen, the president of the Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec (FPJQ), during a press conference on Friday.
The date of September 15 is not chosen at random. It is the International Day of Democracy. During this action, the public is also invited to subscribe to a Quebec media and to a newsletter from a local media.
Patrick Howe, president of the Quebec Society of Professionals in Public Relations (SQPRD), called Meta’s decision to block Canadian news “inelegant” and “unacceptable.”
“As you know, it is on social networks that we find medieval beliefs that we thought were forever banished from human consciousness: the earth would be flat, vaccines would be dangerous, climate change would be a conspiracy,” he said.
“The presence of traditional media on social networks helps in part to counter this disinformation,” he added, emphasizing the special nature of the press conference since the two organizations of journalists and public relations specialists were seated side by side to a first time in their history.
Meta has blocked Canadian and foreign news on Facebook and Instagram since August 1, in response to Bill C-18. The Online News Act was adopted last June and will be in force from December. It requires web giants to pay a fee to the media when they share their content.
Mr. Nguyen recalled that over the years, Meta has captured 80% of the online advertising market share, or eight billion dollars “which goes into the pockets of foreign companies and which is not redistributed in Canada. » He added that the company raked in $21 billion in profits, including $193 million from sharing Canadian news, last year. If Facebook complies with Bill C-18, it will have to pay around $63 million to the country’s media, estimates Mr. Nguyen.
“To save $63 million, they are ready to sacrifice $193 million […] It is a choice that is made, but in our opinion, it is not a choice that is worthy of a good corporate citizen,” commented Mr. Nguyen. It is not up to a company to dictate Canadian laws, he later added.
“A newsroom costs money. Remember that the Charbonneau commission (on the awarding of contracts in the construction industry) and the Chamberland Commission (on the confidentiality of journalistic sources), this comes out of journalistic investigation. It comes from journalists who sometimes worked for years to release these files. Obviously, it takes funds to do this. The media crisis and the advertising exodus make this type of investigation more difficult,” mentioned Mr. Nguyen.
The mayors of Quebec, Laval and Longueuil announced that they support the day without Facebook and Instagram on September 15, in support of the media. The Canadian Journalism Association, the Union of Artists, the Friends of Broadcasting, the National Federation of Communications and Culture, the Quebec Federation of Workers, Hebdo Quebec and the press council are also joining the movement .
Remember that the Competition Bureau of Canada, at the request of several media outlets, announced that it is “examining” Meta’s decision to block Canadian news.