Small publications are feeling the pain of Meta's news block
Eagle Feather News editor says impact is devastating
Small and local news publishers in Saskatchewan say they're feeling the pain of Meta's decision to block news in Canada on their social media platform.
Kerry Benjoe is the editor of Eagle Feather News, a publication that focuses on providing news to First Nation and Métis communities.
Benjoe says they distribute 10,000 papers throughout province.
"A lot of those papers go into smaller communities and so we don't distribute our papers into larger urban settings and that's where social media played a really big role because there's a limited amount of papers," Benjoe told Stefani Langenegger, host of CBC's The Morning Edition
The effects of the news block have been devastating, according to Benjoe, who hoped Eagle Feather News would be small enough to "slip through the cracks."
Before it went into place, news stories would be posted on social media and then shared hundreds of times.
"So instead of 10,000, maybe we got 400,000 views. That was reaching audiences not just here in Saskatchewan, but nationally and worldwide. Some of our stories were read in areas like Switzerland and so to not have this access anymore, it's really concerning."
How did Canada get here?
The federal government passed Bill C-18, or Canada's new Online News Act, in June. It's expected to take effect by the end of the year.
Once it does, the legislation would require companies like Meta and Google to pay media outlets for the news content shared on their platforms.
Earlier this month, social media giant Meta put their foot down and blocked news on their Facebook and Instagram platforms.
News organizations — including CBC/Radio-Canada — have asked Canada's Competition Bureau to investigate Meta's decision to block Canadian news, calling it "anti-competitive."
Audiences can still reach Canadian digital news directly — by going straight to news sites themselves, or using an app on mobile devices.
- Get the news you need without restrictions. Download our free CBC News App.
But for many outlets, which rely on the distribution of their stories on social media, the block has revealed a painful reality.
Kevin Weedmark is is the publisher of the Moosomin World-Spectator, a newspaper in the small town of fewer than 3,000 people located 225 kilometres east of Regina.
He says the most views they've ever gotten on Facebook is in the 300,000 range. Once the block came into affect views have dropped to around 60,000 and even lower.
"It's obviously having a a significant impact and that'll hurt our community and our our ability to to communicate with our community," Weedmark told CBC earlier this week.
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Stephen Whitworth, editor of the Prairie Dog and Planet S publications in Regina and Saskatoon, recalled thinking that Bill C-18 was more convoluted and more complicated than he would've liked.
"The principle of a bill that forces social media to pay news outlets like us, like larger outlets? That's not only great that's essential," Whitworth said.
Whitworth feels the federal government is doing its best with this bill, even if it's not perfect. He hopes they can reach some kind of deal soon.
Benjoe says her readers have been left confused by what is happening and are unsure who is at fault.
"This is just another hurdle we have to jump through just to get the news out there," she said.
Weedmark says this isn't a fight that many newspaper or publishers wanted.
He also doesn't believe the federal government crafted an effective piece of legislation.
"If they gave you a choice of "would you like to spend hundreds of millions of dollars subsidizing not only publishers but broadcasters of all sorts, and which don't even do news? Or would you like to just block their content and pay nothing? I think most people choose the same thing," Weedmark said.
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With files from Liam O'Connor, Stefani Langenegger and The Morning Edition