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by lukedegruchy 1143 days ago
I'm a Canadian who's been following C-11 and before that C-10 for the 2 years the government has been working to pass this legislation.

Here is the best summary I've read so far:

https://allenmendelsohn.com/2023/04/welcome-to-the-online-st...

Digital first creators, Canadian YouTubers and TikTokers (ex Linus Tech Tips), stand to lose the most from this. Their livelihoods are under threat.

This is because of a clause in the bill that seeks to regulate user generated content. Months of senate testimony concluding that user generated content is in scope of the bill. The senate introduced an amendment to exclude user generated content, but the government rejected the amendment, while insisting this will not affect user generated content.

The heritage minister claimed in an interview that the only opposition to this bill came from YouTube. This is despite months of testimony from digital first creators expressing grave concerns about this bill.

Other facts to keep in mind about C-11:

1. The heritage minister gets to define Canadian content only after the bill has passed 2. Cabinet can overrule any decisions made by the CRTC, the Canadian equivalent of the FCC.

1 comments

Why do Canadian YouTubers have a lot to lose? Why are their livelihoods under threat? Why specifically excluding LTT? In your linked article there's a lot of emotion but not a lot of reasons.
C-11 is about algorithms (more specifically, the requirements that govern algorithms) and discoverability.

The former CRTC commissioner as well as the senate confirmed that user generated content is within the scope of the bill:

https://www.michaelgeist.ca/2022/11/oops-he-did-again-crtc-c...

It is traditional broadcasters that lobbied for this bill.

The senate heard months of testimony from digital first creators who believe this bill will negatively impact them. That's why the added the UGC amendment that the government rejected.

Companies might apply reciprocal arrangements to non-Canadians, demoting the Canadian content outside Canada, to make their stance obvious. Which would mean demotion of LTT.