The creator of the Facebook page L’Actualité en memes allowed himself to thumb his nose at Meta. Maxime Larrivee-Roy designed ZuckHub, which allows, through a third-party link, to relay news content where the digital giant no longer wants it.
The way the site works is very simple: you just have to go there and copy the URL address of an article to generate a link that can be shared on Facebook and Instagram, for example. According to tests carried out by La Presse, ZuckHub worked for many Quebec media, but not all. In particular, it was possible to relay articles from La Presse, Le Devoir, Radio-Canada, Le Soleil and Quebecor media.
However, the platform did not support articles from Montreal Campus – the student newspaper of the University of Quebec in Montreal –, from Canada Français – a weekly published in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu –, for example, nor those from foreign media like the New York Times or Der Spiegel.
It was in a publication on his page which has more than 33,000 subscribers that Mr. Larrivee-Roy presented his “reply to the blocking of news by Meta”. “This project is taking up a lot of my time and energy and will require maintenance and adjustments,” he wrote.
Bill C-18 received royal assent on June 22, becoming the Online News Act. The same day, Meta announced its intention to block access to Canadian news on its platforms, a threat it carried out on August 1.
Since then, Canadian Internet users browsing Facebook or Instagram cannot consult or publish news content. “In response to Canadian government legislation, news content cannot be posted on Facebook,” it now reads where links to news articles once appeared.
Bill C-18 on Online News receives Royal Assent. The same day, Meta announced its intention to block access to Canadian news on its platforms.
Google announces that it will also block access to Canadian news due to the adoption of Bill C-18. But the digital giant does not specify a date.
Meta begins blocking access to news. The Trudeau government calls this decision irresponsible.
The federal government publishes the regulations governing the Online News Act. Meta says these regulations don’t change the situation.