As the federal government and tech giant Meta (Facebook) continue their entrenched battle over access to, and payment for, Canadian news, we might consider what is really at stake. Both sides are going after the fundamental tenets of the Internet in their own way. The government is demanding payment for links, which is anathema to the whole construct of the world wide web. Facebook is responding by selectively blocking access to specific content or content providers, going after the fundamental concept of the equality of traffic, the core of net neutrality.