You might have noticed — there aren’t anymore news being posted by news organizations on both Facebook and Instagram.
That comes on heel of the Canadian government passing Bill C-18 (or the Online News Act as it’s also called), which requires tech giants — such as Meta, the parent company of both Facebook and Instagram — to compensate news organizations for hosting their content on their platform.
As you can imagine, not being able to see news — let alone local news — on your social media feed is problematic. Not only does it hurt small local news organizations, like the ones we have in Cornwall, but it also helps the spread of misinformation.
By misinformation, I of course refer to the stepson of your neighbour’s uncle, who told all his Facebook friends that he saw an alien spacecraft land in the middle of the Wal Mart parking lot.
The idea of a spacecraft coming to Cornwall — and visiting Walmart at that — might sound unbelievable to most of us, but this one post can snowball thanks to the hundreds or so of shares that it could garner.
It wouldn’t be long before you’d hear whispers of alien-talk in the grocery store lineups and the Tim Horton’s gatherings.
That’s why it’s always important to trust your local news organizations. They will keep you up to speed with the real local news. Just because the news isn’t on Facebook or Instagram, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. You can have access to all your local news by visiting the organizations’ websites.
While you’re at it, you can also visit www.Cornwall.ca/news to find all the most recent news releases. For instance, as I type this on the last day of August, we just published a new release on the hiring of a new CAO as well as a statement on homelessness in our community.
Remember, www.Cornwall.ca is your destination for any information regarding our wonderful City!
