Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has threatened to remove all news content on Facebook and Instagram in California if a newly proposed bill is passed.

The California Journalism Preservation Act could tax tech platforms for distributing news with income going toward local news agencies.

Even Zuckerberg knows an @GavinNewsom grift when he sees it! Zuck Rattles His Sabre: Facebook Threatens News Blackout in California over 'Journalism Preservation Act' https://t.co/fJ2eC7aCcU

— WindTalker (@nmlinguaphile) June 1, 2023

The issue

"Essentially, the California Journalism Preservation Act would tax the advertising revenue that platforms generate from disseminating news content. The so-called 'usage fee' would fund newsrooms across the state to the tune of about 70 percent of the money collected," Breitbart News reported.

"Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, a Democrat who represents Oakland and is sponsoring the bill, commented: 'As news consumption has moved online, community news outlets have been downsized and closing at an alarming rate,'" it added.

Meta Threatens To Pull News Feeds Over California's Journalism Preservation Act https://t.co/5SfNfYxI08

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 1, 2023

The pushback

“The bill fails to recognize that publishers and broadcasters put their content on our platform themselves,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone tweeted.

“It is egregious that one of the wealthiest companies in the world would rather silence journalists than face regulation,” California State Assembly member Buffy Wicks (D) wrote on Twitter, calling the threat a “scare tactic,” the Daily Beast noted.

#Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is threatening to pull news feeds on its platforms for #California residents if the state legislature passes the Journalism Preservation Act. https://t.co/fjn1lVJfb2

— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) June 1, 2023

"Meta is also is threatening to withdraw news in Canada over similar proposed legislation, with backing from its rival Alphabet, which said it would remove links to news articles from its search engines across the country," the Epoch Times reported.

"In 2019, France ratified a copyright law that forced social media companies like Meta and Google to pay for content, unless they came to distribution agreements with publishers in France," it added.

The new laws not only represent additional tax fees for Big Tech but represent a crackdown on freedom of the press for media outlets and social media companies.

Facebook could not be a profitable company in California under the new law, and neither could most social companies sharing news.

The latest leftist effort by the Golden State is set to cause even more problems in a government already taxing its residents more than any other in the nation.