On August 11, a Trumpet subscriber sent me a screenshot of the Trumpet’s Facebook page. It read: “People in Canada can’t see this content. In response to Canadian government legislation, news content can’t be viewed in Canada.” Overnight, the Trumpet can no longer reach people in Canada on one of the world’s largest social media sites. With a flick of a digital switch, the truth online can easily be blotted out.

And it’s not just the Trumpet. The New York Times, cnn, cbc, the Washington Post and all other news producers are also blocked. Whether you are liberal, conservative, Canadian or foreign, you are blocked. Now one of the most effective means for independent media to compete with mainstream networks is gone.

This is all a reaction to the passing of Bill C-18: the Online News Act. The Trudeau government introduced the legislation under the guise of “enhancing fairness” to Canadian news content, but in reality it enhances the government’s control over Canadian media. This is not an unintended consequence; it was always the intended outcome.

For decades, the Trumpet has pointed to a prophecy in Amos 8:11 about the truth becoming inaccessible—scarce like water during a famine. In our information age, it may have seemed impossible for this prophecy to come to pass. But for the 24 million Canadian Facebook users, it has inched closer to reality.

Nefarious Agenda

Since coming to power in 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has undertaken a deliberate strategy to influence and control the mainstream media. The government already has a stake in it through state broadcaster, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (cbc). The Trudeau government has also handed out $600 million in subsidies and bailouts to hundreds of news outlets, which has prevented many from going bankrupt. These subsidies are a hefty incentive to cover news favorable to the prime minister.

However, independent subsidy-free news outlets have been able to compete thanks to the reach of social media. Bill C-18 is designed to eliminate independent media from the landscape.

The Online News Act was tabled on April 5, 2022. The summary of the act says: “This enactment regulates digital news intermediaries to enhance fairness in the Canadian digital news marketplace and contribute to its sustainability.” The premise of the law is that “digital news intermediaries”, such as social media sites or news aggregators, would have to share revenue with Canadian new outlets for sharing their content. For example, if someone shares a link to a ctv News story on Facebook, Facebook would be charged a fee and that money would be given to a Canadian news outlet. As Lee Harding wrote at the Western Standard, C-18 is counterintuitive: “If someone put up a billboard and it directed someone to a business, would the advertiser get charged because their advertisement actually worked? No. Regardless, that is how Bill C-18 works in practice.”

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunication Commission (crtc) is vested with the authority to determine who is subject to these regulations. However, the bill allows the “governor in council”—the prime minister—to direct the crtc on how the bill is implemented. This bill received Royal Assent on June 22.

Now social media sites are forced to make a decision: start forking over money to Canadian news sites for providing them a service, or remove news content from Canada. Trudeau provoked a war with social media and they are willing to fight back.

The Meta War

Meta published on its website on August 1:

Nearly one year ago, we shared our concerns that the Online News Act would force us to consider whether to continue allowing the sharing of news content on our platforms. We have been transparent and have made it clear to the Canadian government that the legislation misrepresents the value news outlets receive when choosing to use our platforms. …

While the process of drafting regulations under the Online News Act is ongoing, that process is unfortunately not equipped to make changes to the fundamental features of the legislation that have always been unworkable. The only way we can reasonably comply with this legislation is to end news availability for people in Canada.

There is no compromise. It is Trudeau’s way or nothing.

The government position has become more entrenched with Trudeau’s cabinet shuffle. The new heritage minister is committed to dying on hill C-18. “The new heritage minister, Pascale St-Onge, says she will stand her ground against the tech giants, as Facebook prepares to push the button on its plan to block Canadians’ access to news in response to the Online News Act,” wrote the Globe and Mail. “The new minister signaled Thursday that she is not prepared to further soften the government’s line with the tech giants, saying she is ‘deeply committed to ensuring that Canada has a free and independent press, because it’s fundamental to our democracy.’”

This means that news content on Meta will be blocked for the foreseeable future. The government is in negotiations with Google, which is also threatening to remove news content from Canada.

While the regulations will generate some revenue for Canadian news content, the real benefit to the Trudeau government is the reaction by social media sites.

Harding wrote, “This policy, purportedly done to ensure a robust democracy-encouraging domestic media environment, blah blah blah, is really done to ensure that the establishment media can be kept alive as a propaganda wing for the ideology of the government.” The Facebook ban benefits Trudeau by removing independent media’s ability to reach an audience and generate revenue; it also lowers advertising revenue for Canadian news sites, which pushes them toward government bailouts. This translates to government influence.

“No, Bill C-18 does nothing to make sure democracy gets its air and everything to make sure Trudeau-critical independent media gets smothered,” continued Harding. “As is the liberal way, this policy is a big pretense whose effects are different, or even opposite, of the goals it supposedly exists to advance.”

The real purpose of Bill C-18 is to enhance government control over the mainstream media and neuter independent outlets. The Freedom Convoy scandal displayed how independent media is a thorn in the side of Trudeau’s narrative and lawlessness. Now Trudeau has expanded the echo chamber and silenced an avenue for truth. This is another achievement of the radical-left agenda in Canada.

Famine of the Word

The blocking of news content, including the Trumpet, on Facebook in Canada brings a future prophecy into focus.

In Chapter 10 of America Under Attack, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry explains how Amos 7 gives us the key sequence of events in the American government just before Jesus Christ returns. A period of intense government corruption is followed by the return of Donald Trump, typed by King Jeroboam in Amos. This dramatic event will happen very soon. During this time a warning message will continue to go out to the end-time nations of Israel, including the United States, Britain, Canada and the other Commonwealth nations.

However, Ezekiel 3:7 says: “But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.” Our sins have made us impudent (disrespectful) and hard-hearted toward God’s message of loving correction and warning. It is during this time that “the land is not able to bear all his words” (Amos 7:10). Soon these nations will not be able to bear a warning message from the Bible. This is the message going out on theTrumpet.com.

This culminates in the prophecy of Amos 8:11: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.” All of these world events lead to God’s message and truth being completely blotted out and censored. You won’t be able to access it on the Internet, television, radio or in print.

“Soon, people will not be able to find any of these booklets,” writes Mr. Flurry in The Lion Has Roared. “They won’t be able to find any spiritual food! People will be crying out for someone to ‘drop’ God’s word—His revealed prophecies. But then it will be too late physically.”

Bill C-18 and the blocking of the Trumpet on Facebook in Canada is not the famine of the word, but it gives Canadians a small taste of what a famine of God’s word will be like: You wake up in the morning and can’t find the Trumpet’s message anywhere. This shows how fast the famine can happen.

Are you taking advantage of the Trumpet while it is still available? Are you preparing for the spiritual famine?

If you live in Canada and used Facebook to read our content, there are a couple things you can do to still find us. First, you can visit our website directly and see the new content posted daily.

You can also subscribe to our Trumpet Brief e-mail service. You can choose from a variety of options and have this message sent directly to your inbox, so you never miss the most important stories and developments.

This is the age in which we live. Read America Under Attack to learn more about the important events to happen shortly, and act on this truth before it is too late.