After Australia, Canada vows to go after Facebook to pay for news

Ottawa: Canada has vowed to make Facebook Inc. pay for news content, seeking allies in the media battle with tech giants and pledging not to back down if the social media platform shuts off the country’s news as it did in Australia.

Facebook blocked all Australian news content on its service over proposed legislation requiring it and Alphabet Inc.’s Google to pay fees to Australian publishers for news links.

Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault, in charge of crafting similar legislation to be unveiled in coming months, condemned Facebook’s action and said it would not deter Ottawa. “Canada is at the forefront of this battle…we are really among the first group of countries around the world that are doing this,” he told reporters.