I wanted to make sure you didn’t miss this important update on Bill C-11. Last Thursday, Senators voted to pass Bill C-11, The Online Streaming Act. Senators made a CRUCIAL amendment fix thanks to hearing from YOU – but they also got a few key parts wrong.1 Here’s a breakdown of what went down 👇
- ✅ Good news: An amendment proposed by Senator Simons and Miville-Deschêne to Section 4.1 removes most of the content posted by ordinary users on platforms from being regulated by the CRTC as ‘broadcasting’ – BIG WIN!
2. ❌ Bad News: No amendments were made to limit what the CRTC can do around making content ‘discoverable’ – meaning that the CRTC could still manipulate your search results, feeds, and recommendations and fill them with government-approved “Canadian content” of their choice.
- ☠️ Even more bad news: The Senate snuck in a sneaky age verification requirement on platforms, AKA opening the possibility of forcing you to upload your private government ID to access ALL KINDS of websites. No consultation with witnesses, no public review, and no debate to assess the risks of this amendment.
Bill C-11 will now go back to the House of Commons, where MPs will vote to reject or approve the Senate’s amendments. That means we have a small window to rally MPs to get the good amendments approved, and get the bad ones out. We need your help; will you email your MP one more time to demand they make the list fixes to Bill C-11?
The government must respect our content, choice, AND privacy.
