The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has established new terms for the transmission of internet streaming services in the country. According to a news release issued on Friday, the body is requesting content providers with annual revenues of $10 million or more to disclose details about their activities and fill out a registration form by November 28.
The regulatory strategy is intended to ensure that streaming services make “meaningful contributions to Canadian and Indigenous content,” according to the CRTC.
“We’re creating a modern broadcasting framework that can adapt to changing conditions.” “We need broad engagement and robust public records to do that,” said Vicky Eatrides, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of the CRTC, as quoted by the website.
Still, the move was widely criticized in Canada and beyond. Elon Musk, the X (formerly Twitter) CEO slammed the Trudeau government for trying to suppress free speech in the country. “Trudeau is trying to crush free speech in Canada. Shameful.” Musk said in an X post on Sunday.
The comments follow a tweet by journalist and columnist Glenn Greenwald, who re-posted the CRTC news release criticising the “censorship.”
“The Canadian government, armed with one of the world’s most repressive online censorship schemes, announces that all “online streaming services that offer podcasts” must formally register with the government in order to permit regulatory controls,” Greenwald complained in his piece.
Other X users lambasted the “shocking” government action, which was not debated or voted on by Parliament, as part of his administration’s Internet control policy.
The new rules are the result of the Online Streaming Act, formerly known as Bill C-11, which went into effect in April of this year. The legislation has granted Canada’s broadcasting regulator new powers, including the ability to levy financial penalties on individuals and businesses who breach certain parts of the Broadcasting Act or its regulations.
In August of this year, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, among others, removed news content from their platforms in Canada in response to new regulations mandating internet corporations to disclose their data practises.
