New Delhi: Canada clarified that an Australian media organisation had “never been banned” and noted that Meta restricts news content on its platforms for users in Canada “irrespective of outlet”.
On November 7, India’s external affairs ministry spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, stated at a media briefing that the social media pages of The Australia Today was “blocked by Canada”.
Alleging that the blocking followed External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s interview with the outlet and a joint press conference with Australian foreign minister Penny Wong, he said that this had “yet again highlight[ed] the hypocrisy of Canada towards freedom of speech.”
The Wire reported on November 8 that it was not just Australia Today, but the social media pages of all news outlets that have been blocked for the past year – not by the Canadian government, but by Meta on its platforms of Facebook and Instagram.
On Sunday, November 10, the Canadian foreign ministry, known as Global Affairs Canada, issued a statement that Australia Today had never been blocked. The Canadian government has also put the blame of Australia Today not being viewable as part of Meta’s year-old policy to stop all news on Instagram and Facebook in Canada.
“Australia Today has never been banned in Canada. The news site and video of media comments by both India’s Foreign Minister Jaishankar and Australia’s Foreign Minister Wong, can be easily and freely viewed in Canada.”
In Canada, Meta, which owns and operates Facebook and Instagram, blocked the sharing of news content on their sites, irrespective of the outlet. This is due to a decision by Meta to block news on its social media platforms in Canada since 2023. This is in line with a broader business strategy on Meta’s part to de‑emphasise news on its platforms globally.
In June 2023, Canada approved the Online News Act, also known as C-18, which sought to force IT giants like Meta and Google to pay news publishers and media outlets for the articles that were shared on their platforms. The web giants, however, pushed back and said that publishers voluntarily share their content on the platform to their benefit.
From August 1, 2023, Meta announced that no user in Canada will be able to access or share news content in Canada.
Following the MEA spokesperson’s remarks on November 7, The Australia Today issued a statement on its social media, claiming its posts had been restricted “under orders” from Canada.
“The recent restriction and ban on our interview with Indian External Affairs Minister @DrSJaishankar and the press conference with Australian Foreign Minister @SenatorWong on #socialmedia, under orders from the Canadian government, have been difficult for our team and those who value free and open #journalism,” it posted on X, on November 8.
The post included a screenshot cropped to show only the line “People in Canada can’t see this content.” However, the next line, which was not in the image appended with the post, stated: “In response to Canadian government legislation, news content can’t be viewed in Canada,” followed by a “Learn More” link to Meta’s policy on blocking news content in Canada.
For an internet user in Canada, this message appeared identically on any Instagram or Facebook news outlet page, whether Canada’s Globe and Mail, The New York Times, Indian outlets like The Wire and India Today, or The Australia Today.
Australia Today editor responds
In response to additional questions seeking clarifications, the founding editor of The Australia Today, Jitarth Jai Bharadwaj, stated on Sunday that the outlet had first learned from readers in Canada that they were unable to access its Facebook page “only after the publication of our interview with Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar”.
“Prior to this, we had not been made aware of any issues regarding our content not being accessible in Canada,” Bharadwaj said in a message.
He further claimed that he became aware of Meta’s universal restrictions on news platforms in Canada only after the interview was published. “We have been made aware of Meta’s policy to restrict access to news content in Canada as a response to domestic legislation only after the interview was aired. The restriction on our content appears to have been initiated specifically after the publication of Dr. Jaishankar’s interview,” he stated.
Bharadwaj also noted that another Canadian news website, described as a “known Khalistan misinformation news outlet,” remains accessible on Facebook and Instagram. “I am attaching screenshots of Baaz on FB (screenshots of two of their articles on FB) and their Insta page. Hence the logical conclusion would be that there seems to be selective enforcement of the policy,” he added.
The Wire was able to access the Facebook page of Baaz News using a Canadian VPN, unlike other news site pages from around the world. This may be because Baaz is categorised as an “Editorial/Opinion” page on Facebook rather than a “News/Media Company” page, like The Australia Today and other platforms currently blocked by Meta. However, on Instagram, Baaz News is listed as “News/Media,” and The Wire was able to access it on Sunday using a Canadian VPN, along with other news pages, unlike on Saturday. This suggests either inconsistent implementation of Meta’s block or a caching issue.
When asked to clarify whether The Australia Today was implying that the Canadian government, rather than Meta, had initiated the block on its Facebook page, Bharadwaj responded:
“The interview was blocked under the Government’s legislation (this is there in the screenshot). We are not suggesting that Mr Trudeau directly called someone to get this done, but the content was restricted under Govt legislation. However, the selective nature of the restriction raises questions about whether the enforcement of the block was influenced by the content of the interview and whether additional factors may have played a role.”
As seen by the screenshot, the entire page of The Australia Today was blocked for Canadians, rather than a couple of posts. Also, the displayed message viewed in Canada was exactly the same as posted on other news outlets by Meta.
In response to another query, Bharadwaj acknowledged, “To date, The Australia Today has not received any official notification or email from Meta regarding specific restrictions applied to our Facebook or Instagram pages. Typically, when restrictions are applied due to governmental requests, a formal notification is provided to the publisher.”
Instead of attributing this to a broad-brush Meta policy responding to a government law requiring revenue sharing, he stated that the absence of any such communication “adds to our concern about the sudden enforcement of this restriction.”
He added that his “goal is not to assign blame arbitrarily but rather to highlight what appears to be selective enforcement that has negatively impacted our ability to serve our audience”.
