Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram will reportedly begin restricting access to news content in Canada following the passage of a new bill which would drastically alter the company’s monetisation practices.

The Canadian government has granted Royal Ascent to the Online News Act, legislation which effectively mandates online platforms like Facebook to pay original news publishers for their content when it is shared on the site.

Nick Clegg, president, global affairs at Facebook, previously said the law was based on a “fundamentally flawed premise”.

Ahead of the bill’s successful passage, Facebook said it would rather block content in Canada than pay the proposed fee, and it appears this is the option the social media giant is taking.

A spokesperson for Meta told Reuters: "A legislative framework that compels us to pay for links or content that we do not post, and which are not the reason the vast majority of people use our platforms, is neither sustainable nor workable.”

Of the new law, Pablo Rodriguez, minister of Canadian heritage said that a free and independent press was “fundamental” to its democracy.

“Thanks to the Online News Act, newsrooms across the country will now be able to negotiate fairly for compensation when their work appears on the biggest digital platforms,” he said. “It levels the playing field by putting the power of big tech in check and ensuring that even our smallest news business can benefit through this regime and receive fair compensation for their work.”

The news of Facebook’s reaction to the bill follows outcry from Malaysian authorities and threats of legal action over a failure to remove inflammatory content on its platform

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said in a statement it had recently seen an uptick in undesirable content including scam advertisements and online gambling.

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