Canadians shouldn’t trust Meta, Zuckerberg has ‘too much power’, warns ex-Facebook exec

As the Government of Canada remains in a showdown with digital giants over the Online News Act, the former head of Facebook’s division in Australia and New Zealand is warning that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has “too much power” in foreign countries.

“Do you really want that entity being capable of interfering with your information ecosystem in your country?” Stephen Scheeler, the former CEO of Facebook ANZ, said on Top 3 Tonight with Merella Fernandez on Wednesday.

The federal government’s Online News Act aims to force digital giants to pay media outlets for content that is shared, previewed or repurposed on their platforms.

In response to Bill C-18, both Meta and Google announced they would block Canadian news.

Scheeler said he suspects the fight with Canada is part of a “key tenet” within the company and that fighting against any regulation, anywhere in the world, is now a “default position” for Meta.

“Every little battle is a little victory for the big tech platforms in a much bigger battle that they’re fighting all around the world against regulation.”

However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada isn’t “backing down on this” and blasted Meta’s decision to block Canadian news for some users while in St-Hyacinthe, Que., yesterday.

“The fact Facebook doesn’t want to recognize the hard work of journalists across the country is something that undermines the fabric of our democracy,” Trudeau told CTV National News’ Vanessa Lee at the news conference.

The sharp words from Trudeau came shortly after a press conference from Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, who announced the federal government is suspending all its advertising on Facebook.

Meta responded through a spokesperson who in a statement called the Online News Act “flawed legislation” that ignores the realities of how the company’s platforms actually work.

‘AN INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT’

However, it could all just be a high-stakes stare down between the Government of Canada and Meta, Scheeler said, because the social media giant also used the same “saber rattling” tactics in Australia.

“They were just trying to show that ‘hey, we could cause problems for you if we really wanted to.'”

But he also issued a warning, saying Canadians need to “think hard” about the role that Meta is playing in society and if it’s really in the best interest of the country.

“If China launched a similar cyberattack… to try to kind of screw with Canada’s information ecosystem and its ability for people to get news, that would be an international incident,” Scheeler said. “But here we’ve got an organization that’s doing just that.”

Scheeler also discussed Australia facing a similar situation. Watch the full interview by clicking on the video at the top of this article to see what he had to say about how that country dealt with Meta.

With files from CTVNews.ca’s Daniel Otis and Spencer Van Dyk