This issue is over a law that recently passed in Canada called The Online News Act, Bill C-18, which requires internet search engines to pay Canadian online news companies to link to their websites. It was passed and became law on June 22, 2023.


Both Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook as well as Google have taken exception to the law saying that the links to news sites are a benefit to publishers.

A Google statement on their Canada blog says “Last year alone, we linked to Canadian news publications more than 3.6 billion times helping publishers make money through ads and new subscriptions. This referral traffic from links has been valued at $250 million CAD annually.”

And Meta has said "We are announcing today (Aug 1st) that we have begun the process of ending news availability permanently in Canada

In an email to the Canadian news outlet CBC Paul Deegam, head of News Media Canada said "Meta's decision to 'unfriend' Canada by denying access to trusted sources of news for some of their users, as wildfires burn and when public safety is at stake is irresponsible and tone deaf,"

As of the writing of this article, only The Portugal News Instagram seems to be blocked from Canada, while Facebook news posts from our page are still available for the moment. Google News and links to news sites from the search engine in Canada are also available for the moment.

We will keep you updated, but please let us know if you are in Canada and can not access news from The Portugal News on either of the Meta platforms or Google.

In the meantime here are some other ways to access The Portugal News

· Follow us on Twitter or “X” now I guess @theportugalnews

· Subscribe to our newsletter to get a daily news update from Portugal.

· Visit us at our website, for all your news needs anytime.

· If you are visiting us in Portugal pick up a free copy at Faro Airport and various locations across the Algarve. You can also purchase a copy at a newsagent across the country.