Meta blocked news from Facebook and Instagram in Canada — could they do the same in Australia?

Meta's last attempt to outlaw news on Australian platforms saw users lose access to domestic violence charities, government departments and the Bureau of Meteorology. 

Experts say it would be "more refined" if it went on to repeat that move, but remain divided on just how likely that is.

The social media giant, which owns both Facebook and Instagram, earlier this month announced it would no longer pay Australian news media organisations for their content on its platforms. 

It had been paying outlets $70 million a year, under deals made when the government introduced the controversial News Media Bargaining Code. 

Along with not renewing those deals, it will also shut down Facebook's news tab features in Australia and the United States. 

Meta has already barred news access on Facebook and Instagram for Canadians — here's what the experts say is likely to happen closer to home. 

A 'last resort' or an easy fix for Meta? 

The ban in Canada came after the country passed its Online News Act, which Meta labelled "fundamentally flawed" — the law requires platforms to pay local publishers for their content.

Officially called Bill C-18, the law applies to companies operating search engines and social media sites that have a total global revenue of more than $CA1 billion ($1.12 billion) a year. 

They also need to have an average of 20 million Canadian users every month. 

Google reached a deal with the Canadian government. But Meta chose to block news, a decision which has so far lasted six months.

Canada's law is based on the legislation in Australia — the News Media Bargaining Code — which saw Meta temporarily restrict news content in 2021. 

It ultimately led to the deals Meta now says it won't renew. 

However, Curtin University's professor of internet studies Tama Leaver says a repeat of the ban for Australian users would be a "last resort". 

"Facebook can do it anywhere, it's done it before and it can do it again," he says. 

"[With the first ban] Facebook took an incredibly broad sense of what news was, it wiped out a bunch of things it shouldn't have, including emergency services. 

"They are more refined in knowing what they would ban if they were to ban news, just in terms of technical capabilities. 

However, Axel Bruns, from Queensland University of Technology's Digital Media Research Centre, says there is a strong likelihood Meta may look to repeat its initial ban. 

"Clearly they have no reluctance to remove news from their platforms if they feel that it's warranted," he says. 

"Particularly if they were to be designated under the News Media Bargaining Code here; that could be the trigger that puts them over the line and makes them remove news again. 

"I think they're quite reluctant to repeat the payments that they've made to Australian news publishers last time around." 

While the 2021 ban did force changes to the law, Professor Axel Bruns, from Queensland University of Technology's Digital Media Research Centresays it didn't "win fans with users". 

"And it forced news organisations to start looking elsewhere in terms of engaging with their audiences," he says.

"I think banning news in Australia would be a last resort for Meta this time around, instead of a bargaining tactic. And they've been quite clear they have no intention of blocking news unless their hand is forced in a different way." 

'People don't come to Facebook for news' 

Meta says it's not renewing the current agreements because Facebook users were not interested. 

"The number of people using Facebook News in Australia and the US has dropped by over 80 per cent last year," it said in a statement.

Facebook remains the most popular social media platform for general news, according to the University of Canberra's 2023 Digital News Report Australia. 

"Half of Facebook users (50 per cent) say they use the social media platform for news," the report says, noting this was a 3 per cent increase from 2022. 

"Facebook and YouTube remain the most popular social media platforms for news across all generations." 

Overall, 14 per cent of the more than 2,000 Australians sampled in the report say they use Instagram for news — also a 3 per cent jump from the previous year.

Deakin University's associate professor of communication Kristy Hess says her biggest concern is even if Meta "doesn't need news, society needs news". 

"We are at a very difficult point in society [when it comes to] what we're going to do, how we're going to fund journalism and how we're going to ensure people engage with journalism," she says. 

"Those are two very difficult questions for us." 

Under the News Media Bargaining Code, the federal government can "designate" digital platforms such as Meta's, forcing them into mediation to share revenue or face fines. 

The government has yet to designate any company. 

"The government and Meta are trying to call each other's bluffs, basically. They're probably making these statements about letting the current agreements run out just to put the writing on the wall.

"They might then hope the government takes the lesser of two evils and says, 'OK, we won't designate you'." 

In other countries, governments have instead started looking into innovating their own alternative platforms or "public spaces", says Dr Hess. 

The Public Spaces Incubator is one project partnering with media organisations in Canada, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany to create "digital conversational spaces". 

"Do we really need Facebook to disseminate the news and information?" Dr Hess says. 

"That's the question we all need to ask ourselves now.

"What's happened is Facebook [has said], 'We're not news providers, we're going to step out of that space' ... what then is the role of government and news organisations at this point in saying, 'What does that mean?'

Potential 'knock-on effect' for democracy 

If Facebook does follow through with its "last resort" and ban news from its platforms, Professor Leaver says the impact could be far-reaching, particularly for "passive" news consumers. 

"It's difficult because most Australians don't actively look for news via social media," he says. 

"That said, it's incredibly healthy for a democracy for there to be lots of bits and pieces of news [coming] across people's attention that they're not actively looking for. 

"When you've got the vast information landscape we've got, people don't necessarily know what they're looking for, but having bits of news floating up ... is actually a really good thing. 

"I do think news going away from big social media platforms would have a big impact on the visibility of news to everyday citizens. 

"That has a knock-on effect of being, essentially, bad for democracy in broad terms." 

The other risk is a potential surge in misinformation and "fake news" in the absence of official news channels on the platforms, according to Professor Bruns. 

"People who are mainly active on Facebook and who rely on others to share news with them via Facebook, they're the ones that are going to miss out if news disappears again," he says. 

"In some ways, those are the most vulnerable news consumers ... to the kind of information that will continue to circulate because it's not news and it's not banned by Facebook. 

Last year marked the first time concern about misinformation rose among Australians in three years, according to the University of Canberra's report. 

For Meta, says Professor Bruns, there is an "incentive not to police" misinformation on its platforms. 

"It's often these sorts of hotly debated topics that are very sticky, that really keep people on the platform," he says. 

"To some extent, for Meta there is an incentive to keep that kind of debate on the platform, even if it is ill-informed, even if it is mis- and dis-information, because it generates engagement. 

"The only caveat to that is really ... when that turns so toxic and so hateful that it actively drives users away." 

And for social media users, Dr Hess says it may be time to draw a "line in the sand". 

"If this is what's coming down the line, if you are a consumer of news in this country you need to think very carefully about where you should be going for legitimate sources of news," she says.