Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has started blocking access to domestic news in Canada. This move by the tech behemoth is a direct response to the recently passed Online News Act, set to take effect soon. The act mandates that major tech corporations pay Canadian news organizations for the use of their media links. Google has also entered the fray, issuing a similar ultimatum.

If the rationale behind compelling tech giants to pay for the right to link to media outlets seems perplexing, you’re certainly not alone. This concept has been labeled as a “link tax,” a label that the tech sector has embraced to highlight the paradox of taxing a link which ostensibly should bring value to the linked media outlet.

Had the government been able to shape the narrative, a clearer understanding might have emerged regarding the regulators’ aspirations for the legislation. In the minds of its authors, the Online News Act will serve as a mechanism to safeguard Canada’s media landscape while prompting major tech giants to contribute their share to the national tax pool. The legislation is similar to a law passed by Australia in 2021 — which Meta and Google also fought — and to bills in development in California and in the US Congress.