Universite de Montreal joins chorus of organizations pulling Meta advertising

The Universite de Montreal (UdeM) is joining the chorus of Canadian organizations, governments and media companies pulling advertising from Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram.

Joining the Quebec and Canadian governments, Bell Media, Quebecor and others, the university said in a news release that "In solidarity with the media, UdeM is announcing that it will significantly reduce its advertising spend on Meta's social media platforms."

UdeM said it would significantly reduce its Facebook and Instagram advertising after Meta announced that it would not comply with the federal government's Bill C-18 - the Online News Act - which will force digital giants to pay media outlets for content they share or repurpose on their platforms.

Google and Meta said the companies would remove news from their platforms in response.

"With this gesture, Université de Montréal is showing its solidarity with the media, whose role is essential to the circulation of reliable information and to the health of our democracies, and is lending its support to the legislative efforts being made by our governments to compensate the media for sharing their articles and reporting," said UdeM rector Daniel Jutras.

Around 70,000 students attend UdeM, and the university employs around 2,300 professors and researchers, with 450,000 alumni having attended the school.