Meta blocked news from Facebook and Instagram in Canada — could they do the same in Australia?

Experts say a ban of news content on Facebook and Instagram would be a "last resort" for Meta.The social media giant will no longer pay outlets to host their news content moving forward.

Meta has already barred news access on Facebook and Instagram for Canadians — here's what the experts say is likely to happen closer to home.The ban in Canada came after the country passed its Online News Act, which Meta labelled "fundamentally flawed" — the law requires platforms to pay local publishers for their content.

However, Axel Bruns, from Queensland University of Technology's Digital Media Research Centre, says there is a strong likelihood Meta may look to repeat its initial ban. While the 2021 ban did force changes to the law, Professor Axel Bruns, from Queensland University of Technology's Digital Media Research Centresays it didn't "win fans with users".

"We know that people don't come to Facebook for news and political content — they come to connect with people." Overall, 14 per cent of the more than 2,000 Australians sampled in the report say they use Instagram for news — also a 3 per cent jump from the previous year. "They might then hope the government takes the lesser of two evils and says, 'OK, we won't designate you'."In other countries, governments have instead started looking into innovating their own alternative platforms or "public spaces", says Dr Hess.

"When you've got the vast information landscape we've got, people don't necessarily know what they're looking for, but having bits of news floating up ... is actually a really good thing. "What will continue to circulate is unsubstantiated rumour, information from disreputable sources, from untrustworthy sources."

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