Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) announced Thursday that it would explore limiting Canadian users and publishers from seeing or sharing select news material on Facebook and Instagram.
The social media giant said the testing period would last several weeks and that a small fraction of Canadian users would be notified if they shared news items.
Canada’s “Online News Act” prompted the test. The April 2018 law requires platforms like Meta and Google parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) to seek commercial partnerships and pay Canadian news publishers for their material.
Meta said it would remove Canadian news content from its platforms in March if the measure passed. Last year’s bill sponsor, Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, termed the tests “unacceptable.”
“When a huge tech corporation says, ‘If you don’t do this or that, I’m pulling the plug,’ that’s a threat. “I’ve never done anything because I was afraid of a threat,” Rodriguez told Reuters.
Google tested restricting news items for some Canadian customers earlier this year in reaction to the online news bill.