Canada's government to stop advertising on Facebook and Instagram after Meta says it will block news
Ottawa (AP): Canada's government has announced it would stop advertising on Facebook and Instagram, in response to Meta's decision to block access to news content on their social platforms as part of a temporary test.
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez announced Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government's decision at a news conference on Wednesday.
Canada's move is the latest episode in a spat that started after Trudeau's administration proposed a bill that would require technology companies to pay publishers for linking to or otherwise repurposing their content online.
Meta promised at the time to block Canadian news content on its Facebook and Instagram platforms to address Canada's recently passed Online News Act.
Rodriguez said the decision from Meta is "unreasonable" and "irresponsible", and as a result Canada would stop advertising on their platforms.
Reacting to the latest Canadian announcement, a Meta spokesperson said Wednesday that the Online News Act is a "flawed legislation that ignores the realities of how our platforms work", and that the company does not collect links to news content to show on their social platforms. He said publishers are the ones deciding to post them on Facebook or Instagram.
"Unfortunately, the regulatory process is not equipped to make changes to the fundamental features of the legislation that have always been problematic, and so we plan to comply by ending news availability in Canada in the coming weeks," said the spokesperson on a statement sent to The Associated Press.
The annual report on government spending shows the federal government spent just over 11.4 million Canadian dollars (around USD 8.6 million) advertising on Facebook and Instagram in 2021-2022.
Google has also promised to start blocking Canadian news when the bill takes effect in six months.
Rodriguez said the government is in talks with the company and believes their concerns will be managed by the regulations that will come to implement the bill.
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23-year-old woman found dead at Delhi home; suicide suspected
New Delhi (PTI): A 23-year-old woman was found dead in her house in Delhi's Prem Nagar area, with police suspecting it to be a case of suicide, an official said on Tuesday.
The deceased, identified as Anjali Singh, was found motionless in her room on Monday by her sister and her neighbour.
Police said her father, Vinod Kumar Singh (51), told them that he and his wife were away at work at the time of the incident, while their son and the other daughter were also not at home at the time of the incident.
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According to the family, the room in which Anjali was found was locked from the inside. The door was later forcibly opened by a neighbour and her sister with the help of a crowbar.
Her body was found lying on the bed inside the room, police said.
Preliminary inquiry revealed that Anjali had allegedly hanged herself using a piece of cloth tied to the ceiling fan.
It is suspected that the noose eventually might have loosened or torn off, resulting in her being found lying on the bed.
Family members informed the police that Anjali was a final-year student of a librarian science course from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). About a week ago, her final-year examination results were declared, and she had failed, following which she had been under depression, they said.
The family has not raised any allegation of foul play, police said, adding that no suicide note or external injury marks were found on the body during the initial inspection.
Inquest proceedings have been initiated in the matter as per the law. The body has been sent for post-mortem examination to ascertain the exact cause of death, and further investigation is underway, police added.
