Meta has said it would rather block news on Facebook and Instagram in Canada than pay under possible new regulations in the country.

Canada’s proposed Online News Act would effectively force online platforms to pay publishers for their content, with content linked or shared on the likes of Facebook requiring such platforms to pay a fee to the original publisher.

Nick Clegg, president, global affairs at Facebook, said the proposed law was based on a “fundamentally flawed premise” and added that Meta does not benefit unfairly from people sharing links to news content on its platform.

“The reverse is true”, he said. “Publishers choose to share their content because it benefits them to do so, whereas it isn’t particularly valuable to us at all.”

Clegg continued his argument by pointing out that Facebook users do not come to the platform for news, stating that viewing news represents a “tiny proportion”, less than three per cent, Clegg claimed, of what users see on their Facebook Feed and typically engage with on the platform.

Facebook’s parent company Meta recently announced 10,000 fresh layoffs following a similar exercise late last year.

Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has said the job cuts chime with Meta’s vision to become a leaner, more technical company with improved business performance.

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