Quebec's indie news outlets fear for survival as Meta shuts out news from Facebook, Instagram

"In response to Canadian government legislation, news content can't be viewed in Canada."

That is the message Canadians trying to read the news shared on Facebook and Instagram — owned by Meta — will see more of as the social media giant ends news availability on its platforms.

The move has come as a response to Liberal government passing its Online News Act, Bill C-18, a law requiring big tech giants to pay media outlets for news content they share or otherwise repurpose on their platforms.

But as the standoff between the federal government and Meta continues and news consumers lose access to news on social media, Quebec's smaller, independent media outlets worry they may not be able to get the scoop and report the news for much longer — unless an agreement is reached.

Three years ago, The Rover, an independent investigative journalism outlet based in Montreal, launched on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Since then, the award-winning outlet has expanded and hired new staff, but the impasse between Meta and the Canadian government is more than just a snag in the road.

It's already undermining The Rover's ability to reach readers, some of whom, confused, have messaged the outlet's co-founder, Christopher Curtis, asking why they can't get the articles online.

"We're starting to see some of our content not make it onto Facebook, not make it onto Instagram. In the short term, what it means is we can't reach our audience beyond the people who subscribe to our newsletter, and we can't grow our product," said Curtis.

Curtis says social media is the very thing that has allowed The Rover to draw eyes to its website, fund its investigations and pay its freelance journalists — many hailing from diverse backgrounds and starting out in the industry.

"This is how I feed my kid. This is how I pay rent," said Curtis. "If this continues for much longer, then I think all of that is in jeopardy, and that's horrifying to me."

What is most concerning, Curtis says, is how local news outlets staffed with and writing for historically underrepresented minorities —people whose voices are sometimes not given a platform in larger outlets — will be affected.

Meta says it will block news publishers and broadcasters in Canada and is identifying news outlets based on "legislative definitions and guidance from the Online News Act."

According to the act, this includes outlets that produce "public interest" news content, regularly employ two or more journalists in Canada, operate in Canada and belong to a recognized journalistic association.

But local news sites aren't the only media sites finding themselves shut out.

Andrew Jamieson, the creative director of Forget the Box, a community focused, not-for-profit arts magazine that covers underground art in Montreal, says that Meta has incorrectly deemed his outlet to be new and therefore subject to the block.

Jamieson disagrees with that designation and is challenging Meta's decision.

Since the block kicked in on Saturday, Forget the Box's website has felt the pinch. It has seen its daily average of 50 to 60 views a day drop to five to 10 views a day, said Jamieson.

If the situation doesn't change, the site will permanently lose a platform to advertise its work, and crucially, lose its ability to grow its audience and reach the arts community, he said.

"With a community organization and arts organization being essentially suffocated like this, it's horribly unfair," said Jamieson.

"There's one clear loser in all of this, which is the Canadian people."

According to Patrick White, a political scientist and journalism professor at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), larger media companies like CBC will see about a 15 per cent loss of traffic to its website, 25 to 30 cent of traffic if Google follows suit with its own news ban, but smaller-scale outlets — who are more dependent on social media — stand to lose the most.

"For smaller news organizations, local news organizations and specialized news sites, it's more than half of their traffic right now. It will have a huge impact," White told CBC Montreal Daybreak.

"It's totally unacceptable. It's a direct attack against Canadian news organizations, which are the basis of Canadian democracy," 

Jean-Hugues Roy, also a journalism professor at UQAM, says the shuttering of one independent newsroom would have a ripple effect, leading to less information gathered and reported by other outlets in the news ecosystem.

Altogether, Roy says, there are no winners if the Canadian government and the tech companies fail to reach a compromise.

"It's a triple-loss situation. The public loses a source of information. One in four Canadians get their news on Facebook. It's a loss for the media. They lose traffic and they, Facebook and Google, bring in a lot of traffic, and it's a losing situation also for Meta," said Roy.

He says Meta and Google are making an example out of Canada, and if the country is going to deliver on its goal of helping media organizations stay afloat amid revenue losses, it needs to seek the support of other countries to help in its negotiations with the companies.

Curtis agrees that Ottawa should bring Meta to the bargaining table.

"Because of this tug of war between Meta and the federal government, we're losing out and you know we're losing our livelihood. We feel as though the government needs to step up and actually start negotiating with meta, something that's refused to do in the past," said Curtis.