Trudeau government halts advertising on Facebook and Instagram in clash over online news law

OTTAWA — In its first direct response to threats from big tech platforms promising to retaliate against the Liberals’ controversial online news law, the federal government announced Wednesday it would halt all of its advertising on Meta’s Facebook and Instagram. Both companies have long opposed the law, arguing that their platforms generate significant traffic and revenue for news publishers. The federal Conservatives also oppose the law, framing it as an act of censorship that will only further imperil Canada’s embattled news industry. Both tech titans have pledged to remove Canadian news content from major platforms like Google Search, Facebook and Instagram for their users in Canada. According to the most recently available data on the federal government’s advertising expenditures, Ottawa spent $11,423,728 on advertising on Facebook and Instagram from April 2021 to March 2022.