"No News Supply Despite Large-Scale Wildfires"…Canada Criticizes Meta

Canada, suffering from unprecedented large-scale wildfires, has criticized Meta, the parent company of Facebook. The criticism stems from the fact that despite tens of thousands of residents evacuating, Facebook, a social networking service (SNS), is not providing local news.

As wildfires rapidly spread in western Canada, flames are rising in West Kelowna, British Columbia, on the 19th (local time).

On the 21st (local time), Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, "It is unimaginable that companies like Facebook prioritize corporate profits over the safety of Canadians," and added, "It is time to expect more from companies like Facebook that earn billions of dollars from Canadians."

Following last week's attacks by federal ministers calling Meta's news supply blockade "reckless and irresponsible," the Prime Minister also joined the criticism.

Earlier, Meta had stopped supplying news from Canadian media on its digital platforms Facebook and Instagram starting earlier this month. Meta announced the news supply suspension after the passage of the 'Online News Act' in the Canadian Parliament in June, which requires digital platforms like Facebook to pay news usage fees to Canadian media.

However, as the wildfire spread worsened, forcing tens of thousands of local residents to evacuate, the need to share wildfire-related news via SNS has been raised.

Canadian civic groups have also called for a nationwide campaign to block access to Meta for two days, from the 23rd to the 24th.

In response, Meta stated, "We have launched a feature that allows users to let their friends and family know they are safe, and users can still access content from government agencies and emergency services on the platform."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.