2023-10-04 18:02:29
MONDE – Simple formality or attempt to censor and control the Web? In a regulation released on Friday, September 29, 2023, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) set the threshold from which “online streaming services”, such as social networks, will be subject to new rules, resulting from the law on continuous online broadcasting, more commonly known as “Bill C-11”. The decision of this commission sparked an outcry among the Conservatives and Elon Musk, who accuse Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of wanting to “censor” or “crushing free speech in Canada”.
At the end of its public consultations launched in May 2023, the CRTC announced two decisions on September 29. THE “online streaming services” that operate in Canada and that “generate $10 million or more in annual revenue” must, before November 28, 2023, complete a registration form aimed at collecting their “basic information”.
This is not the only data that online streaming services must communicate since the second decision of the Council is to oblige them to provide information relating to their content and their subscriptions. “The ruling also requires these services to make content available in a manner that is not tied to a specific mobile or Internet service”lit-on encore.
Social networks and podcasts concerned
The CRTC specifies that a third consultation is underway to determine the “contributions that streaming services will need to make”in the same way as traditional broadcasters, for “support Canadian and Indigenous content”.
Among these “broadcasting services” include podcast platforms but especially social networks. “However, users who use social networks to share the podcasts” are not bound by this registration process, just like providers of video game or audio book services.
In other words, the law on continuous online broadcasting (Bill C-11), which aims to update the broadcasting law, intends to oblige platforms like Netflix, Disney, YouTube as well as social networks (Facebook, X, TikTok…) to contribute to the promotion of Canadian content.
The measures have sparked controversy since they were tabled by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in February 2022. Canadians initially feared that amateurs who broadcast content on YouTube or on social networks would be subject to the online streaming law, but the possibility was quickly dismissed by the Liberal government. Bill C-11 “only applies to movies, TV series and music”.
Conservatives denounce “censorship law”
The release by the CRTC of its regulations this time caused a reaction from the Conservatives, and their leader Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (PCC) and the official opposition. In his opinion, these new decisions are proof of a “social media censorship plan”. “Justin Trudeau was warned that the online censorship law would censor what people can see and say online. The Liberals denied it. Now that’s exactly what they’re doing”he said on Twitter.
Trudeau’s creepy decision to force podcasts to register with his government is his latest attempt at censorship.
I will repeal censorship & bring home free speech: pic.twitter.com/NfQBKYlfjN
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) October 2, 2023
On the party website, a petition was published denouncing the “Trudeau Liberals who are desperate to police and control speech”in reference to the obligation to “promote Canadian content”. The liberal government “has now given itself the power to control what Canadians can see and say online”, love you where among the opponents.
American billionaire Elon Musk, owner of the social network X (formerly Twitter) for almost a year, also reacted to the news from the CRTC. He accused Justin Trudeau of trying “to crush freedom of expression in Canada. It is shameful”he wrote.
Trudeau is trying to crush free speech in Canada. Shameful.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 1, 2023
Supporters of Trudeau’s Liberal Party, such as the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Québecois, have welcomed the online streaming law, saying the CRTC’s request for registration of the platforms is a “simple formality”. “Conservatives, at every stage of this legislation, have tried to place the issue of censorship at the heart of the debate. “It is irresponsible, and above all disconnected from the reality of Quebec where the reform of the broadcasting law is unanimously supported”believes Bloc MP Martin Champoux.
The United States had already reacted to the online streaming law in January 2023. A spokesperson for the American embassy in Canada, Molly Sanchez Crowe, expressed Washington’s fear that Bill C-11 affects the operations of American companies. “We are concerned that this will affect digital streaming services and discriminate against our businesses”she had indicated.
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