The Liberal government was warned this would happen if they didn’t make changes to Bill C-18. They ignored those warnings, and here we are.
With Meta – Facebook’s parent company – continuing to comply with Bill C-18 by ending what the government claimed was the ‘theft’ of content by removing links to Canadian news, Justin Trudeau is attacking the company for complying with the legislation.
Speaking in Prince Edward Island, Trudeau claimed people should “expect more” from the company:
“It’s time for us to expect more from corporations like Facebook that are making billions of dollars off of Canadians,” PM Justin Trudeau tells reporters in Cornwall, P.E.I., in response to Meta’s news block amid ongoing wildfires in Canada.”
“It’s time for us to expect more from corporations like Facebook that are making billions of dollars off of Canadians,” PM Justin Trudeau tells reporters in Cornwall, P.E.I., in response to Meta’s news block amid ongoing wildfires in Canada. #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/3EKVNBpRKO
— CPAC (@CPAC_TV) August 21, 2023
Obviously, there are a few things wrong with Trudeau’s remarks.
Facebook makes money in Canada because Canadians voluntarily choose to use the platform. Facebook didn’t coerce anyone into using it, people chose to do so. Further, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party runs ads on Facebook, a choice they voluntarily made in order to reach an audience that wouldn’t exist without Facebook providing access to it.
Justin Trudeau seems to think there is a moral issue at play here, and there is, but not in the way he thinks. The money collected by the government is collected through coercion, or the threat of coercion. People know that the government can take away our liberty if we don’t give them our money.
Meanwhile, what can Facebook take away from you if you don’t use their service?
You won’t be jailed or fined for not using Facebook.
So in this case, it is Facebook/Meta that has the moral high-ground, not the Trudeau government.
Meta is complying
Making Trudeau’s remarks even more absurd and manipulative is the fact that Meta is in fact complying with Bill C-18.
The government told Meta that they were ‘stealing’ from news companies by allowing those companies to voluntarily post their links to the service. It was a foolish and illogical argument, but since the government refused to listen to reason and rammed C-18 through without changes, it meant that Meta was forced to respond.
Meta responded in a logical way. If you are being accused of stealing, simply stop stealing. And that’s what they did. Meta chose to comply with Bill C-18 by ceasing the ‘theft’ of Canadian news links. Not only did Meta warn repeatedly warn that is how they would respond, Bill C-18 critics told the government that the end result of pushing through Bill C-18 without changes would mean less access to news for Canadians and less revenue for Canadian news publishers.
The Liberals ignored all of those warnings, deciding to try and score short-term political points by attacking Meta in disturbingly hyperbolic terms and assuming the company was bluffing.
Well, that’s brought us to where we are today: The Liberal government desperately posturing and trying to give orders to Meta, who has absolutely no reason to listen to anything the government says.
The Liberal government has no leverage over Meta, nor should they. They told the company they were stealing, and now demand that Meta resume the theft.
Who would listen to such absurdity?
Canadians who are angry about the unavailability of news on Facebook shouldn’t direct their ire towards Meta, they should direct their ire towards the Liberal government who caused this to happen by imposing Bill C-18.
The government could have just done nothing at all, and this wouldn’t be a problem. Facebook was providing a massive service for free. But no, the Liberals just had to step in and screw it up.
For too long, Canadians have put up with the federal government acting in a more and more socialist manner, and it is time we push back. As the ongoing debacle of Bill C-18 shows, government intervention is only making things worse.
Rather than trying to step in and control everything, the state needs to step back and let the power of capitalism work.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – Twitter
