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Several media organizations and associations and are petitioning Canada’s Competition Bureau to investigate Meta’s abuse of its dominant position by blocking news in Canada.
In a letter dated August 7th, the complaints state practices employed by Meta are designed to discipline Canadian news organizations by preventing them from participating in and accessing the advertising market.
This action considerably reduces their visibility to Canadians on social media channels, as Facebook and Instagram account for more than 70% of Canada’s online social media market.
Additionally complainants say Meta’s anti competitive conduct, which has attracted the attention of the world, will only strengthen its dominant position in advertising and social media distribution while harming Canadian journalism.
Over the past week Canadian news pages on the two social media platforms have had their audiences limited as part of Meta’s retaliation against Bill C-18.
The Competition Bureau is being asked to use the tools at its disposal, both investigative and prosecutorial to protect competition and prohibit Meta from continuing to block news content access to Canadians.