Is the Canada, Meta news standoff coming to the US?

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 25 September 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Canadians are in a bit of a pickle when it comes to getting timely news updates through Facebook. The Canadian government passed a law requiring Meta and Google pay media outlets when news content is posted on social media platforms. Meta's reaction, to block all news from its Canadian users, left many citizens and its government frustrated. Today on the show, what are tech companies' public service obligations in an era of declining news outlets?

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	It's already been a brutal wildfire season here in the US and across the globe.
0:17.5	Our neighbors in Canada have been dealing with a record-setting series of wildfires.
0:22.3	It's been scary at times for folks to figure out where to go and how to stay safe.
0:26.7	We need to turn to Facebook for news and information like they always do.
0:30.5	But in some cases, it was not there.
0:33.0	There was no information being hosted and we didn't know like, oh, go to the arena, there's
0:37.9	an evac center there, or like where the next community was, so we're basically left in
0:42.1	the dark.
0:43.1	That was Delaney Plattra.
0:44.5	She was speaking to an old fund of ours, Anise Haydari, senior reporter with the CBC
0:49.0	news.
0:50.0	Welcome back to the indicator, Anise.
0:51.9	Thanks for having me, Whalen, and I talked to a number of people who had experiences just
0:55.7	like Delaney.
0:56.7	She's not the only one.
0:57.9	And that's because right now in Canada, as you might have heard, we can't post news
1:02.6	on Instagram or Facebook.
1:04.6	And that's because Meta has decided to block Canadians from posting news after the Canadian
1:10.6	government passed a new law.
1:15.1	This is the indicator from Planet Money.
1:16.6	I'm Whalen Wong.
1:18.1	And I'm Anise Haydari.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.