Study: Canadian news engagement drops sharply one year after Meta's ban
Engagement with news content on social media has dropped by 43%
A new study by the Media Ecosystem Observatory reveals that Canadian news outlets are struggling to engage audiences a year after Meta blocked Canadian news content on Facebook and Instagram.
Here are a few key points:
Engagement with news content on social media in Canada has dropped by 43%, despite efforts to boost it on other platforms.
The ban followed the passing of the Online News Act in June 2023, which required tech companies to negotiate with news publishers.
Local news outlets have been significantly affected, with 30% now inactive on social media.
Only 22% of Canadians are aware of the ban, resulting in 11 million fewer daily views on Facebook and Instagram.
However, many Canadians are still accessing news through workarounds like screenshots.
The study, conducted by researchers from McGill University and the University of Toronto, is funded by Ottawa but remains independent.
Things I’m reading today
Most damages from CrowdStrike outage expected to be uninsured, with insured losses estimated between $300M and $1.5B (link)
Most damages from last month's CrowdStrike global IT outage are expected to be uninsured, according to estimates from Guy Carpenter and CyberCube Analytics Inc.
The outage, which caused major disruptions and $5.4 billion in damages for Fortune 500 companies, is estimated to have insured losses ranging from $300 million to $1.5 billion. This disparity reflects a muted insurance response, partly due to the incident's non-malicious nature and its short duration.
Fewer than 1% of insured companies were impacted, and major insurers do not view this incident as highly destructive compared to other potential risks. Delta Air Lines, hit hardest, is seeking compensation from CrowdStrike and Microsoft, though overall insured losses are considered manageable (Via Evan Gorelick/Bloomberg).
Groq raises $640 million, doubles valuation to $2.8 billion, and expands AI chip development (link)
Groq, a startup specializing in high-speed AI chips, raised $640 million in a funding round led by Blackrock, with participation from Neuberger Berman, Type One Ventures, Cisco, KDDI, and Samsung Catalyst Fund.
This new funding values Groq at $2.8 billion and more than doubles its previous valuation. Groq is developing LPUs (language processing units) that promise ten times the speed and one-tenth the energy consumption of existing models.
The company has appointed Meta's Yann LeCun as a technical advisor and former Intel executive Stuart Pann as COO.
Groq's GroqCloud platform supports major AI models and is used by over 356,000 developers, including many from Fortune 100 companies.
Facing competition from Nvidia and other tech giants, Groq plans to scale its operations and expand its chip offerings. It also recently acquired Definitive Intelligence and is working on new partnerships and installations worldwide (Via Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch).
This data is both surprising and highly relevant to me: "Only 22% of Canadians are aware of the ban, resulting in 11 million fewer daily views on Facebook and Instagram."