Facebook use remains constant despite news ban

Meta Platforms Inc. has not experienced any notable drop in Facebook usage despite banning news content from Canadian users, independent surveys have found. The story was initially reported by Reuters news agency. Meta instituted the ban earlier this month in response to the federal government passing the Online Streaming Act. The government responded by canceling its ads on the platform. Several private companies have followed suit. The broadcasting lobby group Friends had sought to have a two-day boycott of Facebook to protest the move. But according to digital analytics company Similarweb, Canadians are using Facebook with much the same frequency in August as they did in previous months. Another firm, Data.ai, came up with similar findings. Daily users statistics for July and August show a constant number of close to six million users. Daily visit numbers hovered around the 20 million mark. The figures come from the Similarweb survey. Meta has repeatedly stated that news stories make up a minuscule portion of its content and that users seek out Facebook for other types of content. The tech giant says news only constitutes three per cent of its content and that it does not make much money off of it. Meta and Alphabet Inc.’s Google have been in discussions with the federal government to resolve the dispute over news carriage. Google is also blocking news outlets from its coverage. Meta would not comment on the data figures but referred the Wire Report to a previous statement about the negotiations with the government. “While the process of drafting regulations under the Online News Act is ongoing, that process is unfortunately not equipped to make changes to the fundamental features of the legislation that have always been unworkable,” the company stated. “The only way we can reasonably comply with this legislation is to end news availability for people in Canada.” Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge’s office did not respond to a request for comment. –Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca

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Facebook use remains constant despite news ban

News | August 29, 2023

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