Senate Passes Liberals’ Controversial Streaming Bill With Dozen Amendments

OTTAWA – Big tech companies offering online streaming services may soon be forced to contribute Canadian content as a controversial liberal bill moves one step closer to becoming law.

The Senate passed the online streaming bill known as Bill C-11 with a dozen amendments after lengthy scrutiny by senators.

The bill would update Canada’s streaming rules to reflect online streaming giants like YouTube, Netflix and Spotify, and would require them to contribute to Canadian content and make it accessible to users in Canada, or face heavy penalties.

Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez says he expects the House of Commons to pass the bill next week after reviewing the Senate’s changes.

The senators made amendments aimed at protecting user-generated content and highlighting the promotion of indigenous languages ​​and Black content creators.

They also included a change that would prohibit CBC from producing sponsored content and another that would require companies to verify the age of users before they access sexually explicit material.

Rodríguez said Thursday that the Liberal government would not accept all of the Senate’s recommendations, but did not say which ones he disagreed with.

“We’ll see when the bill comes back. There are amendments that have zero impact on the bill. And others that do, and those, we will not accept them,” the minister said Thursday during a panel of the Canadian Association of Media Producers.

The Senate also removed a clause in the bill that Senator Paula Simons described as giving “extraordinary new powers to the government to make political decisions about things.”

Ian Scott, former chairman of the Canadian Radio, Television and Telecommunications Commission, told a Senate committee that some provisions in the bill moved the balance “slightly closer to lessening the independence” of the regulator, though he insisted in which it would remain independent.

The CRTC, now under the leadership of Vicky Eatrides, will be tasked with enforcing the provisions of the bill.

The Senate passed the bill on the anniversary of its introduction in the House of Commons.

Between the House of Commons and the Senate there have been approximately 218 witnesses, 43 meetings, 119 briefs and 73 proposed amendments, Rodríguez said.

“It is the longest bill,” he said.

The proposed law has come under intense scrutiny amid accusations from companies and critics that it left too much room for government control over user-generated content and social media algorithms.

Rodriguez said the tech giants can get creative with the ways they promote Canadian content, such as billboards, advertising or, if they choose, tweaks to their algorithms.

The bill has also caught the attention of the United States. His embassy in Ottawa recently said that he is consulting with US companies that are concerned they may face discrimination if the bill passes.

Last week, two US senators called for a crackdown on Canada over the C-11 bill, saying the future law violates trade agreements.

“I am not worried, because we believe that it complies with commercial obligations,” Rodríguez said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on February 2, 2023.

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