It's World News Day on Sept. 28. This year’s theme is truth, which is hidden from Canadians.
Canadian news outlets were blocked on social media since June 22, 2023, following the passage of Bill C-18.
The Online News Act, Bill C-18, was originally proposed as a way for media businesses to have more bargaining power with social media companies but they did not want to pay.
In retaliation companies like META chose to block accounts run by Canadian news outlets, leaving the spread of news to blogs and individual journalist accounts. META owns Facebook, Threads and Instagram.
In a world where the public consumes mass media daily, having the news on social platforms becomes a necessity.
Many Canadians in Ontario follow blogs like 6ixbuzz to get their information. The current online newspaper publishing model puts stories behind a subscription wall on websites or applications.
Since subscribing isn’t free, consumers find it easier to get their news for free rather than paying for it.
To add to the restriction of information, META announced on Feb. 9, 2024, that they’d implement a setting that reduces “political content.”
A report by Human Rights Watch alleges that META’s content policies silenced voices that were in support of Palestine on Instagram and Facebook as the policy was implemented during the rise in support for Palestine.
META has doubled down on the setting on reducing political content as they updated it.
“We spent the last few years refining our approach on Facebook to reduce the amount of political content,” META said in their transparency center.
META does this by allowing their AI systems and survey responses to assist in, what they think is informative, meaningful, and worth your time.
Canadians have a right to know what is happening, which is why the same week as World News Day, is also Right to Know Week.
Both of these events are significant as they put a focus on journalism and on the right and ability to know.
Right to Know is longstanding as it started in 2002 in Bulgaria. It began as International Right to Know Day, but in Canada, Right to Know is extended to a week and works to remind Canadians of the critical role information has to the public.
This is why Sept. 28 is International Day for Universal Access to Information.
UNESCO created this day to promote the expansion of laws related to information. Its Director-General Audrey Azoulay said on its page that it works to protect and promote information access. They recognize its role in development, democracy and equality.
All these days show how important accessing information is to the public and how big companies like META are blocking us from a tool that would benefit the public and keep them more informed.
