Meta Expects Canada to End News Ban Through Trade Talks

By Priya Raman

Meta says it hopes to restore news content on Facebook and Instagram in Canada by the end of the year, and it expects the resolution to come through Canada–U.S. trade negotiations rather than through any concession of its own. Rachel Curran, director of public policy at Meta Canada, told Politico's Canada Playbook newsletter that the dispute will "very likely" be settled as part of those broader talks.

Curran did not hedge much. "If we are able to reach agreement post-midterms — and it sounds like there's activity in that direction — the news stuff will be dealt with as part of that," she said. The report by Nick Taylor-Vaisey, Mike Blanchfield and Mickey Djuric appeared in the November 4 edition of the newsletter.

The statement matters because of what Meta is not saying. The company has given no signal that it will resume linking to Canadian news while the Online News Act still obliges it to pay publishers for that content. Meta blocked news links on Facebook and Instagram in Canada in response to the legislation, and its public posture has not shifted since.

What does this change for publishers and advertisers?

Read the statement against that record and the practical implication comes into focus. Meta's optimism about a year-end restoration rests on an expectation that the Canadian government will heavily modify the Online News Act — or, more likely, rescind it entirely. Ottawa has already moved once in this direction: it scrapped the Digital Services Tax last year under trade pressure. Meta appears to be betting on a repeat.

For Canadian publishers, the stakes are direct. A rescission would remove the payment framework the Act created, but it would also reopen the referral traffic that vanished when the block took effect. For media buyers and brand teams running Canadian campaigns, a return of news links would restore placement and adjacency options on Facebook and Instagram feeds that have carried no Canadian news since the ban began.

The timing detail is also worth noting. Curran tied the outcome to a deal "post-midterms," which places the likely decision window after the U.S. midterm elections and inside the same trade negotiation track that already produced the Digital Services Tax reversal. If those talks stall, Meta's year-end target slips with them.

A pressure tactic, not a policy announcement

Telling Politico this directly looks deliberate. By framing the news ban's end as a routine annex to trade negotiations, Meta puts the onus on Ottawa to move first. The company pays nothing, changes nothing, and lets the negotiating calendar do the work.

Nothing in Curlan's comments commits Meta to paying publishers under the current Act. Everything points the other way: a bet that the legislation itself will not survive in its present form. Publishers and advertisers should watch the trade file, not Meta's product settings, for the next signal.