Understanding Facebook’s Political Expression Rules in Canada

I learned about this while posting a political news article to Facebook while using a VPN to Canada. The post was blocked!

Canadians absolutely can post about politics on Facebook. In fact, Canadian election law specifically exempts an individual’s non-commercial online expression of their personal political views from the definition of regulated election advertising. (laws-lois.justice.gc.ca)

What is restricted in Canada is news content, and that’s probably where the confusion comes from. Since 2023, Meta has blocked news content on Facebook and Instagram in Canada in response to Canada’s Online News Act (Bill C-18). A Canadian Facebook user generally can’t view content posted by designated news outlets or share links to those news outlets. (mediapolicy.ca)

So, for example:

• “I think Pierre Poilievre is terrific/terrible.” → Fine.
• A lengthy post arguing about Canadian or American politics → Fine, assuming it doesn’t otherwise violate Facebook’s rules.
• Political memes → Generally fine.
• Sharing a CBC, Toronto Star, CNN, etc. news link → This is where a Canadian user can run into Meta’s news blockade.
• Political advertising → Allowed but subject to additional Canadian election rules and Meta’s requirements. Meta was still explicitly supporting political parties and candidates using Facebook during Canada’s 2025 federal election. (about.fb.com)

There’s another wrinkle: Facebook has settings governing how much political content gets recommended in people’s feeds, but that isn’t a prohibition on posting political material. Meta actually reversed some of its earlier efforts to suppress political recommendations beginning in 2025. (about.fb.com)

In the meantime, I wish Facebook would block this kind of excrement in the United States:

I’m sure there are people who won’t bother to fact check this…