As it says in the title, the BBC is starting its own Mastodon instance. I think the CBC (and other news networks) should do similar. Particularly with the recent passing of Bill C-18 it seems like a world where the links we share are crossposts to news organization’s own content is the perfect resolution to that whole issue.
That feels like a stretch. They’re hosting their own instance. The only accounts on their instance are their own verified ones. There are literally some European governments that have also done this on Mastodon. If you’re worried about them over moderating comments sections, that sounds about the same as a comments section on any news website. Other instances can defederated from them. Other people can post a link to their article and have comments go off in an instance where the BBC isn’t also the admin/moderator.