The PC’s are joining the chorus in calling for accredited news organizations to return to social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Meta blocked Canadian news content on its platforms during the debate over Bill C-18 – the Online News Act – back in 2023.

As a result, misinformation and disinformation has proliferated on the platforms, causing confusion among the public looking for accurate information.

That was illustrated during the recent wildfires. Public Safety Minister John Haggie expressed his frustration over the confusion created during a recent public update on the fire situation.

“There’s a lot of rubbish out there – and there seems to be a little factory producing it,” he told reporters on Monday.

Haggie says he plans on taking up the issue with the federal minister of emergency preparedness, Eleanor Olszewski.

PC Leader Tony Wakeham recently wrote Prime Minister Mark Carney expressing his concern saying that plaforms blocking content from news organizations during emergencies restricts the distribution of timely information.

Wakeham says the public wants fast, reliable information, noting that news organizations have been an “instrument through which (government updates) are conveyed.”

Wakeham’s plea comes less than six months after he posted a video to TikTok video arguing “why you can’t trust the media”…comments which have since been withdrawn.