Both the Government of Canada and Quebecor have pulled all of their advertising from Facebook and Instagram in response to Meta’s plans to remove news content from its platform and avoid the terms of the Online News Act.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez said the government’s decision came after Meta was “unreasonable and irresponsible” in the days following the bill’s passing.

The minister said the government was still at the table and willing to figure out solutions to tech companies’ concerns. “We are open to discussion, but we are not open to doing nothing.”

According to the government’s most recent advertising expenditure report, the federal government spent $11.4 million on Facebook and Instagram advertising from 2021 to 2022, representing more than half of the $21.2 million it spent on social media advertising overall. Rodriguez said its spending on Facebook and Instagram would be re-invested into other platforms.

In a statement released Wednesday morning, Quebecor said it was pulling all advertising for itself and its subsidiaries effective immediately, and would continue “until further notice.”

Quebecor’s holdings include telco brands Videotron, VMedia, Fizz and Freedom Mobile; TV channels TVA, TVA Sports, Yoopa and Moi&Cie; publications Le Journal de Montreal, Le Journal de Quebec, 24 heures and the French edition of Canadian Living; audio streamer QUB; and streaming service Club Illico.

When the Online News Act passed in June, Meta quickly confirmed that it would be following through with plans to remove news content from Facebook and Instagram. The Act is an effort to force major tech companies to bargain with news outlets to determine a more fair share of revenues from digital advertising; media companies have claimed Google and Meta have used their dominant market position in digital advertising to command the majority of revenues from ads, including those that run on news websites. However, as the Act seeks to regulate platforms that “make news available to Canadians,” any platform that removes links to news content from its platform would no longer fall under the Act’s terms.

“This high-handed decision is an abuse of Meta’s dominant position, particularly in the Canadian online advertising market, and violates the basic tenets of any society that believes in the importance of reliable, trustworthy news coverage for a healthy democracy,” the company said in its press release. “Any move by Meta to circumvent Canadian law, block news for its users or discriminate against Canadian media content on its platforms, through its algorithms or otherwise, cannot be tolerated.”

The company further called on “businesses, governments and institutions” to show their opposition to Meta’s plan with their own “advertising placement choices.”

Last week, Google said it would also be following through on its plans to remove news from its platform after discussions with the government failed to address the company’s concerns with the Act.

Quebecor has not yet said whether or not it will be pulling ads from Google as well. During the press conference, Rodriguez would not provide details of ongoing negotiations, but said he was confident that a solution to Google’s concerns would emerge from the regulatory process.

“We have all the answers in this process [with Google], and are sure we will be able to have an agreement on the major issues,” he said. “Meta had a very aggressive campaign. They did not want to discuss or negotiate with news outlets.”