The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Jan. 28, edition that government officials are talking with Meta on restoring news on Facebook, following the Online News Act that led to the removal of journalism from its platforms, as part of trade talks with the United States. The Globe's Marie Woolf writes that Meta blocked news on Facebook and Instagram in 2023 after Canada proposed a law requiring it to fund the local news industry. The Online News Act, enacted in 2023, is being criticized by the Trump administration as a trade irritant, alongside Canada's Online Streaming Act. Identity Minister Marc Miller's spokesman, Alisson Levesque, confirmed that talks between Meta and the Heritage Department are under way. She said: We want news back. How do we go there is a question mark and that's why we are having conversations." Meta maintains it will not pay for news on its platforms and would need an exemption from the Online News Act to avoid paying into Canada s journalism industry. Google, which did agree to pay Canadian news publishers under the act, injects $100-million annually into the industry. Almost two-thirds of that goes to written media, including local newspapers serving francophone and indigenous communities.