Premier David Eby's standoff with Facebook over local news access amid wildfires reveals a controversial deal that may impact public safety in British Columbia
Premier David Eby has spent the last nine months talking tough against social media giant Facebook, accusing it of endangering the lives of British Columbians by denying them access to trusted and reliable local news sources during wildfire emergencies.
But it turns out, B.C. New Democrats had quietly sold out the local news industry to Meta in exchange for a cut-rate deal on government advertising and a promise from the tech company to “amplify” state propaganda directly to the eyeballs of Facebook and Instagram users. Official sources. Government agencies. Not a single mention of local news. An astounding betrayal of everything the premier had been saying for the better part of a year.
Or: “I call on Facebook again, Mr. Zuckerberg, open up access to Canadian media so that British Columbians can share critical local information so they can be safe.” The attorney general’s defence made it sound like government information had been banned from the platform alongside local news. But that has never been the case. Provincial sources have always been there on Facebook and Instagram during wildfire season — it’s just, they aren’t always timely, accurate or useful for people.
Or consider this week, where the B.C. government is trumpeting its ability to house evacuees from Fort Nelson in hotels in Fort St. John. Yet on-the-ground CBC News coverage revealed many of those evacuees were being evicted from their hotels to make room, in part, for wildfire personnel.
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