A spokesperson for Meta has stated that the company has fixed the issue that temporarily prevented some Threads users in Canada from reading and sharing news on the application. Despite Meta having removed news content from Facebook and Instagram feeds for Canadian users earlier this year, the ban did not extend to Threads, according to Engadget.
However, some Threads users began receiving notifications indicating otherwise, stating, “People in Canada can’t view this content,” in a notification branded as Threads. A Meta spokesperson told Engadget that online news law regulations do not currently apply to Threads. Nevertheless, the appearance of the notification has sparked speculation that the company might eventually ban news content on Threads as well.
In recent years, major technology companies worldwide have been in conflict with governments over payment for news content. In 2021, for example, Facebook prevented people in Australia from sharing news links, while Google threatened to stop displaying content from Australian news publishers on Google News. However, both companies eventually reached agreements and agreed to start paying Australian news organizations.
In August, Meta began blocking news on Facebook and Instagram in Canada in response to the country’s online news law, which requires platforms to pay news organizations to compensate for lost advertising revenue. Google, which had initially pledged to ban news links in the country, ultimately reached an agreement with the government and agreed to pay around $100 million annually to Canadian publishers, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Threads, a new social app developed by Meta, was announced by Mark Zuckerberg as a text-based platform designed for sharing real-time updates and public conversations. It is envisioned to be compatible with the open, interoperable social networks of the future. This app is built by the Instagram team and aims to extend Instagram’s photo and video sharing capabilities to text-based content. Users can log in with their Instagram accounts, carrying over their usernames and verifications, while having the option to customize their profile specifically for Threads
