Facebook reported communicating with dozens of B.C. MLAs, ministers and staffers from the start of May to June 6. The company said the meetings covered “matters impacting online digital platforms, including but not limited to broader policy issues such as content and platform integrity efforts, and online youth safety.”

Last March, the province introduced Bill 12, the Public Health Accountability and Recovery Act, which would have allowed provincial and federal governments to recover healthcare costs from social media companies for harms to public health caused by the platforms. That legislation was modelled after an older law that made tobacco companies pay the province for the healthcare costs of treating smoking-related conditions.