Federal lawyers have admitted what the heritage minister previously denied – that the Online Streaming Act will regulate content uploaded by ordinary users.
For years, consecutive heritage ministers vowed that user-generated content would be off-limits from regulatory control.
Yet in a recent legal battle with Google over revenue compensation, Justice Department lawyers employed admitted that “the Act does allow for regulation of user-uploaded programs on social media services.”
For nearly two years MPs and other government ministers told Canadians that their fears regarding government regulation of their online content were unfounded. Former Canadian heritage minister Pablo Rodriguez mockingly said “no cat videos” would be regulated.
“We made it very clear in the Online Streaming Act that this does not apply to what individual Canadians and creators post online,” said Rodriguez.
“No users, no online creators will be regulated. No digital-first creators, no influencers, no cat videos. Only the companies themselves will have new responsibilities.”
Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law at the University of Ottawa Michael Geist told True North that while he doesn’t think the admission will have an immediate impact on users, it does indicate that regulating user content is on the table in the long run.
“That does not appear to be on the agenda at the moment, but will remain a source of concern for as long as it remains within the legislation,” said Geist.
“Further, the fact that the government consistently denied this was the case even as its justice department confirms in court that those regulatory powers exist undermines public confidence in the legislation and will leave many feeling that they’ve been gaslit by the government on this law.”
The CRTC ruled last week that if advertising accompanies user content, then it must be subject to regulation, since ads are under the control of YouTube and not users.
With Bill C-11 in effect, that means user content can be subject to the same regulations as licensed broadcasters are.
“The Act does allow for the regulation of user-uploaded programs on social media services, so long as certain conditions are met,” reads the court filing, written by federal lawyers.
Canadians’ suspicions were first confirmed last fall when Heritage Minister Pascal St-Onge released her ministerial directive to the CRTC, telling the agency to treat “online undertakings,” in other words streaming services, in the same way as any other Canadian broadcasting company.
Former CRTC chair Ian Scott testified that the Trudeau government’s legislation would crack down on user content, contrary to the government’s testimony before the Commons heritage committee in 2022.
The directive effectively made platforms such as YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts akin to Bell, Rogers, or Corus Entertainment, the three largest broadcasting companies in Canada.
The aforementioned streaming services are where the bulk of Canadians get their podcast content from and while St. Onge told the CRTC not to regulate individual podcasts, they will be regulating the companies that distribute a vast majority of them.
By regulating content on Apple, Spotify and YouTube, the government is regulating all podcasts, and other content as well, critics of the legislation have said.
