I agree. My first reaction when it broke about them blocking news was 'I don't see them or use them as a news aggregator anyway, so who cares'; let them take their click bait promotion and dwell time algorithms elsewhere.
[The Tyee is] blocked from posting news stories on two of the giant’s platforms — Instagram and Threads (the company’s new rival to Twitter) — and it seems the same may soon be true on Facebook.
And so we ask you Tyee readers: Will you help us gauge the scope of the blast radius?
Are you having trouble sharing Tyee news items on Instagram? On Facebook? On Threads? If so please send an email letting us know at [email protected]. If you get any kind of error message, please screenshot and send that to us, too.
[The blocking] soon could include Google, which, like Meta, has vowed to strip Canadian news from their platforms in resistance to Bill C-18, federal legislation that would compel the tech companies to sign commercial deals with Canadian news organizations for content that is shared on their platforms.
The Tyee, thankfully, has over 75,000 free newsletter subscribers we reach directly via email, so we’ll survive. (If you’re not currently a newsletter subscriber, please sign up here. It’s free and you can cancel anytime.)
They aren't blocking you from going to Canadian news sites, they're blocking you from posting links to them, because they don't want to pay the news sites for their content. They probably have a list of domains that are blocked; I doubt they're blocking particular IPs.
The best thing you can do to support The Tyee is subscribe to their newsletter with the link above and, if you can afford it, support them financially. This is all about denying the news sites advertising revenue from the increased traffic that major platforms provide.