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View: Trudeau condemns Metas move to prohibit news coverage during wildland fire emergency
Justin Trudeau, Canada's Prime Minister, has accused Facebook of putting profitability before the security of residents as it blocked news during a period of fierce wildfires in the nation.
Facebook took the course of action to prevent itself from being legally obligated to share profits with news outlets as dictated by Canadian law.
Evacuees of the wildfire have reported that the ban has made it difficult for them to communicate important information among themselves.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, refers to the law as "fundamentally flawed".
At a televised news conference on Monday, the prime minister declared that Meta's actions were "unfathomable".
Since 1 August, Canada's recent online news bill has led to the company restricting news on both Facebook and Instagram. This law demands tech firms such as Google and Meta to enter negotiations with publishers for access to content.
Since then, Meta has come under heavy criticism from authorities in Canada. On Saturday, Pascale St-Onge, the Canadian heritage minister, communicated on social media that the organization is obstructing "crucial data" for its customers.
She expressed that this action was taken in spite of Bill C-18, or the Online News Act, not yet being in effect. She labeled Meta's decision as "reckless" in a previous post.
Meta asserted that the law is "fundamentally deficient", disregarding the facts of how their platforms function.
In response to the BBC, Meta declared that the law necessitates that they "cut off access to news material to remain in compliance with it".
The company declared that it has enabled its "Safety Check" feature on its website for inhabitants of areas that have been evacuated.
A spokesperson mentioned that this function enables users to indicate that they are safe and to access reliable data, including material from governmental institutions.
In the Northwest Territories, where a wildfire is still blazing within 15 kilometres (9 miles) from Yellowknife, the largest city, evacuees expressed their concern that the news blackout has impeded their ability to share vital information with their contacts.
Delaney Poitras, who has been displaced twice in the past few weeks from her residence in Fort Smith, relayed to the CBC that she was not able to pass along information such as official press conferences or stories about evacuation updates.
She said that social media giant Facebook is essential in maintaining relationships amongst the people in her neighborhood. "It's our go-to form of communication," she said.
Research indicates that approximately 77% of Canadians are Facebook users, and among them 25% get their news from the platform.
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