Facebook News Access Is Down In Canada, Study Reports

Meta’s move to block news in Canada may prove to be irrelevant. Only 25% of Canadian readers use Facebook as a source of news, down from 29% in 2023 and 46% in 2016, prior to Meta’s move, according to Report Canada, 2024 Data: An Overview, a study by Centre d’etudes sur les medias, conducted by YouGov.

Meta started blocking access to most news content in August 2023 in response to legislation requiring that tech giants compensate publishers for using their content.. But the falloff in usage started in 2022, the study says. 

In contrast, television remains the primary source of news in the country, although it is down 2% to 38%. Use of news websites or apps rose by 3% to 30%. And social media, third on the list, is favored by 24%, down 1%. 

And while Instagram is also affected by Meta’s news block, its use in Canada rose by 3% to 13%.

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At the same time, trust in most news is down by 1% to 39% YoY, and by 16% from 2016. And 41% now say they are worn out by too much news, versus 28% in 2019. The figure is 38% among Francophones. 

In addition, 52% of Canadians are uncomfortable with the use of AI to produce news. But that falls to 27% when AI is used only to help a human journalist.

At the same time, payment for online news has returned to its 2022 level: 15%, +4 pp in relation to 2023) in Canada. This is largely driven by Anglophones (up 16%.). Francophones remain at at 11%. 

YouGov surveyed 2,014 Canadians, including 430 Francophones.

 

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