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In the ongoing tit-for-tat over Bill C-18, Ottawa’s decision to suspend federal advertising on Facebook and Instagram is unlikely to send shivers down the spine of Mark Zuckerberg.
But the move announced today by Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez is still an interesting one, although maybe not in the way he and his Liberals imagined.
The federal freeze on its advertising spend is a direct response to the declaration from the two Zuckerberg platforms to block Canadian news after the passage of the new Online News Act. When you add it all up, about $10 million in federal tax dollars is spent on advertising on the two Meta-owned platforms each year.
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That’s a heck of a lot more money than Ottawa currently spends on advertising in Canadian newspapers, which — unlike the Silicon Valley social media giant — pay full taxes in this country and employ a lot more Canadians.
Having fired back at Meta for actions he described as “unreasonable, irresponsible,” will Rodriguez redirect those advertising dollars to newspapers like the Free Press? We also stand to lose, because Facebook is ending deals it had in place to pay for the use of news on its sites.
And since the Liberals like to wrap themselves in the Canadian flag, will the party follow suit by ceasing to advertise on Facebook, a key tool in everyone’s election playbook? For the moment, the answer from the Grits is the party will not be “unfriending” Facebook.
The same questions need to be asked of politicians of all stripes and at all levels. For instance, will the Manitoba government follow the lead of its provincial counterparts in Quebec, which also announced a freeze on Facebook? What about the campaign spending Tory Leader Heather Stefanson will need to try to win re-election this fall — or the partisan blitz the NDP will launch in a bid to have Wab Kinew become premier?
To Facebook or not to Facebook?
At some point, politicians are going to have to start picking sides and putting their money where their mouth is. You’re either a friend of Facebook or you are a defender of democracy and the right of Canadians to access news created here in Canada.
The answers to those questions will keep generating headlines — even if Zuckerberg does everything he can to keep those headlines off his platforms.
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