Meta Blocked News in Canada. Ads for Scams Are Taking Its Place
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The ads frequently link to pages resembling established news websites, with text that starts like a news article but pivots to promises of fast investment returns.
Photographer: Brendon Thorne/BloombergSocial media platforms in Canada are hosting hundreds of ads from scam artists pretending to be news publishers, while suppressing authentic news content.
Instagram and Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. has blocked links to news outlets for users in Canada since August 2023 in response to a law designed so social platforms compensate news publishers for hosting their content. People in Canada who try to post stories on Facebook by the Toronto Star, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and other professional news outlets receive a message: “In response to Canadian government legislation, news content can’t be shared.”