No matter what Big Tech does, you can always count on CHCH News

Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, has announced again it will no longer allow us – or you – to share CHCH News on Facebook or Instagram. Some of our accounts were blocked last month, so CHCH News decided weeks ago to cease posting on any Meta platform or purchasing any advertising on those platforms.

Meta has maintained it is doing this in reaction to Bill C-18, a new Canadian law which would force technology companies to negotiate with news companies like us to compensate us for the value we provide to them, which is significant. But the truth is the social media giant has been using its algorithm to suppress news for years. Ever post a link to one of our stories and wonder why your friends never saw it? That’s Facebook’s manipulation at work.

While this change will limit our ability to share content with our viewers and readers on Meta platforms, it won’t affect our commitment to the citizens in our regions. We will continue to provide you with live, local news, seven days a week, on CHCH-TV, here on www.chch.com, and through our free newsletters. You can also continue to catch our content on YouTube, YouTube Shorts, Google, TikTok, Twitter, Spotify and other online spaces.

CHCH News thrived long before Meta and we’ll continue to thrive without it. You will always find us doing what Facebook has never done and will never do – reporting on news from our community and around the world that matters to the people of Hamilton, Halton, Niagara and Brant. 

Greg O’Brien, news director.