It seems that the so-called Big Tech social media companies (Meta and Google) are having a hissy fit over a bill recently passed in the Canadian legislature - Bill C-18.
It calls for the two largest companies to start paying for the news content that they are ripping off the original publishers in their continuing attempts to aggregate the news and make lots and lots of ad revenue in the process.
I would imagine that it will eventually extend to all tech companies that are violating copyright laws.
It might be a bit different if they merely published links to that news, but they are embedding content, while generating about $12 Billion dollars in revenue from Canadian advertisers.
Canada is asking them to pay about 3% of that revenue to support the sources that they are copying, but they have responded by threatening to block all Canadian news to all Canadian users (links and otherwise) from their platforms. They've started to do just that.
If that seems rather draconian in this day and age, it is. But this is a strategy that is carefully thought out. Australia started this trend, California is considering it, and these little tech companies (in terms of their actions) are attempting to stop it by striking back hard.
I say, let them do it. Canadian users can get their news from a myriad of sources. Listen to the radio (yes, there is radio content in this post). Read newspapers. Go directly to the sources by visiting the CBC, CTV and other websites. Get their apps.
It might be a bit less convenient for the 'Give me convenience, or give me death' crowd. But you'll get far less biased and skewed news (i.e., you won't just see what these tech companies want you to see). You'll be supporting the journalists rather than the rip off artists. And you'll be punishing bad behavior.
Let's show these companies that they are there to serve us, the customers. They have to obey the rules. Not just to line their pocketbooks.