This stuff is going on all around the world.
Will Bill C-11 give the CRTC the power to regulate your posts?
- Bill C-11, also known as the Online Streaming Act, is the updated version of Bill C-10, first introduced last year by former Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault. Now spearheaded by current Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, Bill C-11 partially fixes some of C-10’s faults, without fixing its core problems.
- Bill C-11 expands the Broadcasting Act that grants the CRTC regulatory powers over radio and television to cover all audiovisual content on the Internet, including content on platforms like Tik Tok, YouTube, Spotify, and podcast clients.
Will Bill C-11 give the CRTC the power to regulate your posts?
- The short answer – yes. Like Bill C-10, Bill C-11 gives the CRTC unprecedented regulatory authority to monitor all online audiovisual content. This power extends to penalizing content creators and platforms and through them, content creators that fail to comply.
- The government is promising to apply further limitations to this power via a policy direction from Cabinet after C-11 passes. But a policy direction can be amended or replaced by a new direction at any time. This is not a binding defence of our content like restrictions within C-11 would be. This government or a future government could decide to use the CRTC’s new powers to start regulating or limiting user online posts, and it would all be entirely legal.
- You’ll see less of the content you want most. According to the government, Bill C-11 will ‘increase visibility’ for some officially recognized Canadian content creators– but their tool for doing this is manipulating our playlists, feeds, and algorithmic recommendations.
- This means that the CRTC will be picking winners and losers, forcing some officially recognized content ‘up’ in feeds and recommendations, while downranking or hiding other content we’d otherwise receive.
- Global content and content that best fits your search criteria as a platform’s algorithm understands it will become harder to find. The content you WANT to see that doesn’t fit the CRTC’s vision of CanCon is pushed down in your feed.