Information & Ethics committee  No, I wouldn't say they're an essential service. I think they are tools and products that Canadians enjoy using. They enjoy using our platforms to share information about their families and friends. They enjoy finding out what's happening in their communities. They're really tools that Canadians use to connect with one another.

Information & Ethics committee  Monsieur Villemure, we would love to not be in this position. We would love to have news on our platforms. The problem is that the government, through Bill C-18, the Online News Act, has asked us to pay an uncapped amount, an unknown amount, for content that has no commercial value to us.

Information & Ethics committee  We think, Mr. Villemure, that there is still a lot of credible information on our platforms. There is information from Quebec policy-makers. There is information from civil society in Quebec. There is information from non-governmental organizations that are based in Quebec. All of those outlets, all of those individuals and groups still have a presence on Facebook and Instagram, and they're still able to share information with Quebeckers.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, I think there's a genuine public policy issue to address here, which is, how do we best support local media and journalism? It's a cornerstone of our democracy. Meta was very involved in supporting media outlets and supporting journalism in Canada. We had private deals that were worth close to $20 million per year with news outlets across the country, including in Quebec.

Information & Ethics committee  I don't know the answer to that.

Information & Ethics committee  I will commit to getting back to the committee.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, we can. We respond to valid government requests in accordance with applicable law and our terms of service. Those requests are publicly disclosed at our transparency centre, and we'd be happy to provide more detail on those to the committee.

Information & Ethics committee  I assume you're talking about Cambridge Analytica, which was some years ago now. As we've always maintained, there was no evidence that Canadians' information was shared with Cambridge Analytica. Meta also does not sell our user data, at all, unequivocally. Indeed, even when the Federal Court examined the Cambridge Analytica issue, they agreed with our position, finding that there was insufficient evidence that Canadians' data was shared and that, in any event, Facebook's data-sharing practices were adequately disclosed.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you, Mr. Barrett. Yes, we would support that kind of restriction. If I may say, I think that would be an excellent way for policy-makers to protect and address youth safety issues, as long as it's applied industry-wide.

Canadian Heritage committee  That's correct, Mr. Julian. We're working very hard to make sure we don't make the same mistakes in Canada that we made in Australia when we removed news from our platform. We're working very hard to make sure that we don't take down pages we don't mean to take down and we don't take down pages that don't fit the definition of “news”.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Housefather, for the question. Through the chair, yes, it is absolutely our intention not to make the same errors in Canada that we made in Australia. We're working very hard to make sure that's not the case. Of course, the way we do this is going to depend, by necessity, on the final scope of Bill C-18 and how it emerges from Parliament.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, Mr. Housefather. We are not going to block government pages, emergency service pages or community organizations. With regard to some of the things that were mistakenly scooped into scope in Australia, we're working very hard to make sure we do not do that this time.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, my understanding is that there was a post-mortem. That is informing the way we are proceeding with ending the availability of news in Canada as well.

Canadian Heritage committee  We'd be happy to follow up with your office, Mr. Housefather, and have that conversation.

Canadian Heritage committee  The answer is yes, Mr. Housefather.