The Australian media portal at the centre of a storm between India and Canada clarified on Monday (November 11, 2024) that it had not been “selectively blocked” by the Canadian government as alleged earlier. In a statement responding to a denial issued by the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the portal, which focuses on Indian diaspora issues, said it was “not aware” that Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram had decided not to broadcast all news content on its sites in Canada due to a dispute over Canada’s “Online News Act” since 2023.
However, it alleged that an unnamed “Khalistani propaganda” news site remained accessible on Canadian Facebook and Instagram, leading to its assumption that there had been “selective blocking” of its site. Based on Australia Today’s allegations, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson had said last week that these were “actions which yet again highlight the hypocrisy of Canada towards freedom of speech”.
While the Canadian government denied blocking any site, and the portal itself has clarified, the Ministry declined to make any comment on the issue on Monday.
When asked, officials pointed to the Australia Today statement, issued by its Managing Editor Jitarth Jai Bharadwaj.
“We acknowledge the recent statement from the Canadian Foreign Ministry and would like to clarify that we first learned that users in Canada were unable to access our Facebook and Instagram pages shortly after publishing our interview with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar,” Mr. Bharadwaj explained. “Before this, we were not aware of any issues regarding the accessibility of ‘The Australia Today’ content in Canada on Meta platforms.”
Earlier on Sunday the Canadian Foreign Ministry, known as Global Affairs Canada, had issued a sharp rebuttal to the allegations.
“Australia Today has never been banned in Canada. The news site and video of media comments by both India’s Foreign Minister Jaishankar and Australia’s Foreign Minister Wong, can be easily and freely viewed in Canada. In Canada, Meta, which owns and operates Facebook and Instagram, blocked the sharing of news content on their sites, irrespective of the outlet,” it said in its statement.
Questions over the Ministry statement against the Canadian government had gained prominence, after an Indian fact-checking site “Boom” investigated the allegations and found Australia Today’s claim that it had been specifically banned for publishing Mr. Jaishankar’s interview to be false.
In fact, in May 2023, Meta president for global affairs Nick Clegg (former British Deputy PM) had announced that in response to the Canadian government’s actions to rein in Big Tech with tough regulations on news portals being carried on its social media sites, Meta would end the availability of news content in Canada.
Published – November 11, 2024 09:36 pm IST
