The latest MTM (Media Technology Monitor) looks at the early impact of the June 2023 passing of Bill C18, the Online News Act, and Meta’s decision not to pay Canadian news outlets for content. The data in the report comes primarily from the online portion of MTM’s Fall 2023 Survey, which asked 8,000 Canadians about their experience with news.
More than three-quarters of online Canadian adults (78%) are aware that Meta is blocking news on Facebook and Instagram with lower awareness among those who do use Facebook or Instagram for news content. Some of these platform users may be less interested in hard news. Younger Canadians (63%) are less likely to know about Meta blocking news content than those over the age of 35, with awareness of older adults ranging from 82% to 86%.
Canadian adults are big consumers of new with three-quarters saying that they read news content online. More than half (54%) say they watch one of Canada’s news specialty channels including CBC News Network, CTV News, CP24, ICI RDI and LCN. Nearly the same percentage watch news video clips online.
The research found that more than a third of online Canadians (35%), mainly those 18 to 34, feel they will consume less Canadian news as a result of the Meta ban. Women (39%) are more likely to feel this way than men (31%).
The Meta ban did impact usage of Facebook in particular for news, which was cut nearly in half from Spring 2023(29%) to Fall 2023 (16%).
The most popular source among Canadians for online news are Canadian news broadcasters. Nearly three in ten online Canadians say they are using the websites or apps of Canadian news organizations more. While Canadians are mentioning traditional outlets like TV and radio as being used more for news content, 18-to-34-year-olds are frequently looking to YouTube and other social networking platforms for content.
The sources cited by survey participants include 57% turning to news broadcaster websites or apps. Those accessing news on social media (31%) in the past month turned to Facebook (16%), Instagram (11%), Twitter (9%), TikTok (9%), Reddit (8%) or WhatsApp (4%). Newspaper websites and apps are used by 27% of Canadians and 25% get their news through a news aggregator.
