The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, has accused the technology giant Meta, parent of social networks such as Facebook or Instagram, of “putting its corporate profits before the safety of the population” by blocking access to newspapers in the midst of a wave of forest fires .

Meta began blocking access to news earlier this month in retaliation for a law that requires technology platforms to partner with media outlets to share revenue, a move Google has also threatened.

“This is not the time for something like that,” Trudeau declared on Monday, during an appearance before the media in which he pointed out that, “in an emergency situation,” access to updated local information “is more important than ever “reports the CBC network.

For the prime minister, this is an “inconceivable” decision, although a Meta spokesman already defended last week that he did not foresee any change in his current policy, alleging that official sources of information, such as government pages They are not subject to any veto.

The North American country has been experiencing one of its worst waves of fires for weeks, with more than 5,500 fires registered since the beginning of the year. The authorities estimate the number of burned hectares to date at more than 13 million, a figure without historical precedent.