OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – A federal law passed by the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last year mandating regulation of online platforms such as YouTube and Netflix to ensure they meet government requirements will indeed affect content uploaded by ordinary users, admitted federal lawyers.
Despite successive Heritage Ministers stating that any user-generated content would not be affected by Bill C-11, known as the Online Streaming Act, that was passed into law in April 2023, a recent legal battle with Google regarding revenue compensation has exposed that this might not be the case.
Lawyers for Canada’s Justice Department admitted that Bill C-11 “does allow for regulation of user-uploaded programs on social media services.”
Canadian law professor Dr. Michael Geist warned last year that new powers granted to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) via Bill 11 will not stop at “Web Giants” but will lead to the government going after “news sites” and other “online” video sites as well.
“Bill C-11 was never just about ‘web giants’” he has previously said.
Recently, the CRTC made a ruling in which it stated that if an advertisement is accompanied by user-generated content, it must be subject to the new regulations because ads are controlled by YouTube.
In a recent column, Geist observed that for the “better part of two years, a steady parade of government ministers and MPs insisted that user content regulation was out of the bill even as a plain reading made it clear that it was in.”
“This week, Ministry of Justice lawyers provided their take, arguing on behalf of the government in a court filing that “the act does allow for regulation of user-uploaded programs on social media services,” he noted.
The Justice Department filing states:
Contrary to the Applicant’s position, the Act does allow for the regulation of user-uploaded programs on social media services, so long as certain conditions are met. Subsection 4.1(2) states that, despite subsection 4.1(1), the Act applies in respect of a user-uploaded program if the program meets one of two preconditions. The first precondition is that the program is uploaded to the social media service by the provider of the service or the provider’s affiliate, or by the agent or mandatary of either of them. The second precondition is that the program meets the criteria set out in Section 4.2.
Section 4.2 is even broader. It allows the CRTC to prescribe user-uploaded programs on a social media service in multiple different situations. As long as the CRTC follows the parameters set out in this section, it can prescribe social media programs.
Bill C-11 mandates that Big Tech companies pay to publish Canadian content on their platforms. As a result, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, blocked all access to news content in Canada.
This bill has been panned by other critics, such as Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, after in October 2023 the CRTC said that certain podcasters must “register” with the government by November 28, 2023.
Opposition MPs for years have been warning that Bill C-11 would open a Pandora’s Box in terms of who is affected once the full law has been implemented.
Last month, LifeSiteNews reported that the full implementation of Bill C-11 has been delayed until late 2025.
Lawyers correct in saying Trudeau’s bill will target ordinary users says expert
Geist noted that while he does not find it “particularly convincing in the context of this case on the status of ads accompanying user content,” Justice lawyers are right that “the regulation of user-uploaded content is included in Bill C-11.”
“Yet the government consistently denied that conclusion over the objections of many experts throughout the legislative process. Indeed, that is precisely what I wrote within hours of the bill’s introduction in February 2022,” he declared.
According to Geist, critics and “concerned voices” of Bill C-11, including creators were “repeatedly disrespected, ignored, or told they were wrong when they pointed out what was readily apparent in the bill.”
“Our politics is often dominated by debates about deceptive communication, frequently characterized as misinformation or disinformation. For my money, the government’s approach on Bill C-11 provides a paradigm example. Just ask the lawyers at the Ministry of Justice,” he wrote.
The Conservative Party of Canada, under leader Pierre Poilievre, was a strong opponent of Bill C-11. With polls showing them on track to win the 2025 election in a landslide, it is conceivable the bill may be rescinded before it is ever implemented.