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The Feds Stopped, but BC Will Keep Buying Ads on Meta

Zuckerberg’s firm is killing links to Canadian news, but the province keeps spending on Facebook and Instagram.

Andrew MacLeod 7 Jul 2023The Tyee

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee's Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria and the author of All Together Healthy (Douglas & McIntyre, 2018). Find him on Twitter or reach him at .

The British Columbia government is reviewing a decision the federal government has made to suspend all advertising with Facebook and Instagram’s parent company Meta, but for now is continuing to buy ads from the Silicon Valley technology conglomerate that also owns WhatsApp, Threads and other platforms.

“Due to an increasingly fragmented digital media landscape and the need to reach diverse audiences, including youth, the B.C. government’s public information campaigns include a thorough multichannel advertising mix,” a B.C. Finance Ministry spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

“Currently, the B.C. government is running three paid information campaigns that appear on Meta and Google, as well as other social media channels,” they said. “They include the wildfire information campaign, the BC Demographic Survey information campaign and two BC Parks information campaigns (licence plate and reservation system updates).”

On Wednesday this week the federal government announced it is suspending advertising with Meta as the dispute over Bill C-18, the Online News Act, escalates. In recent years the government has spent about $10 million a year on advertising from Meta.

A screenshot of the B.C. Government’s Instagram feed features the British Columbia government’s blue logo in a circular avatar against a black background. A row of colourful circular icons titled “emergency,” “health,” “climate,” “save money” and “housing” across the bottom of the frame.
The BC government maintains an Instagram feed and buys ads to appear on the popular image-based social media platform. While the province reviews a recent federal government decision to suspend all advertising on parent-company Meta, it will keep buying ads from the company. Image via Instagram.

The Quebec provincial government, the City of Montreal, the Bloc Québécois federal political party and at least two major Quebec-based media companies followed with similar announcements that they won’t be buying ads from Meta either. Most provinces have confirmed they plan to continue advertising with Meta for now.

The act, which passed June 22, requires companies like Meta and Google to enter deals with Canadian news organizations that would share revenue from their content that appears on the platforms. The companies have responded by saying they will block Canadian news from their sites.

But while Google is in talks with the government on implementing the law and says it won’t start blocking news until the law comes into effect in six months, both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez told reporters that Meta, which is already blocking news content for certain users, has refused to negotiate.

“That's just bullying, and it's undermining our democracy,” Trudeau said Wednesday.

Rodriguez said Google’s approach has been responsible, but that Meta’s refusal to talk is not. “They took a different approach and I don't think it's good for anyone; not for them, not for the government, not for Canadians.”

The B.C. government spent $1.35 million on ads from Meta last year and $1.66 million the year before that.

While the province continues to buy ads from Meta, it is reviewing the federal government’s decision and is “keenly watching developments,” a Finance Ministry spokesperson said. “Paid information campaigns are important to support engagement with British Columbians and inform people of critical government programs, services and policy issues.”

Both the official Opposition BC United and the BC Green Party declined to comment.  [Tyee]

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