The Liberal government’s Online News Act, which passed in 2023, was designed to help Canadian media, demanding that tech giants pay for the use of content. Google struck a deal, paying $100 million to an assortment of media companies. But Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, refused to pay, figuring that the best way to avoid shelling out cash to the Canadian media was to block it from its platforms. With Meta, the Online News Act massively backfired. Now high-quality, fact-checked journalism is nowhere to be found on Facebook, which is the most popular social media platform in Canada with approximately 30 million users. The internet is a splintered, chaotic cesspool of misinformation, and professional news outlets have a much harder time reaching audiences. Weeks away from the election, voters struggle to separate fact from fiction. |
Aaron Rodericks, the head of trust and safety at the emerging social platform Bluesky, is an expert in today’s social media ecosystem. He’s written an opinion piece for Maclean’s about what he’s seeing this election cycle, and what tools do—and don’t—work in the battle over narrative. Visit macleans.ca for more coverage of everything that matters in Canada, and subscribe to the magazine here. —Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief, Maclean’s |
The promise of a secure future—with a good job, an affordable home and a sense of stability—once felt like a Canadian birthright. For many younger Canadians, that dream now seems like a delusion, and a growing number are now finding resonance in Conservative populism. Here, in their own words, five young Canadians explain why they’re pinning their hopes on Poilievre. |
Sheri Block left Toronto for the promise of endless skies, soaring mountains and accessible homeownership in Calgary. It didn’t take long to realize she’d made a mistake. “I’d caution anyone who is tempted like I was that there may be unexpected sacrifices,” she writes in this essay for Maclean’s. |
Photo courtesy of Elbows Up, Canada |
Here’s Margaret Atwood, spotted in Toronto late last week with Jean-Michel Picher from Elbow’s Up, Canada, wielding her Maclean’s made-in-Canada tote bag. Order yours here. |
Last June, Stan Proboszcz received a mysterious tip: a huge number of salmon had died at a remote Vancouver island farm. In this essay for Maclean’s, the science and policy analyst explains why B.C. needs to phase out open-net salmon farms—and raising salmon on land is the way forward. |
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