Minister says online streaming rules will be platform-focused, CRTC has ‘no intention’ to regulate creators

Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez is promising now that Bill C-11 has passed, that his coming policy direction to the regulator in charge of implementing the new rules will “be even more clear” that the contentious Online Streaming Act is “only about the platforms.”

“This is about the platforms, it’s never about the user… It’s not about the things you or I post online, even if what you post online is super cool, is very fun, we’re not interested,” said the minister in an interview with Vassy Kapelos, airing on CTV’s Question Period on Sunday.

Bill C-11 received royal assent on Thursday, clearing the way for the first substantive reforms to the Broadcasting Act since 1991 to come into effect. However, first the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has to craft the coinciding regulatory framework, determining how the new rules will be enforced. 

Part of this process will see Rodriguez issue a policy directive to inform the CRTC’s work. According to the government, a first draft will be published in the Canada Gazette, for the public, artists, digital creators, and businesses to read and provide feedback on. That draft will then be updated and re-published, taking into consideration what they heard.

Bill C-11 is aimed at ensuring increasingly popular and profitable social media platforms and streaming services such as Netflix, Crave, Spotify, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and YouTube are subjected to Canadian content requirements and regulations comparable to traditional broadcasters. The policy change comes with a requirement for these platforms to spend millions investing in Canadian content and creators.

While the NDP and Bloc Quebecois, as well as many in the “CanCon” music, film, and television industries, backed Bill C-11, alarms have been sounded by critics including the Conservatives that the Liberal proposal could have knock-on effects for content creators and what everyday users see online, due to provisions that would require platforms to promote Canadian content. 

The potential implications for user-generated online content remained a key sticking point throughout the bill’s extensive parliamentary study over the last year, right up until the final vote. Before the Senate signed off Bill C-11, some senators tried unsuccessfully to include an amendment they felt would instill some certainty around the scope of the bill as it related to user content, but the government rejected it.

In the interview, Rodriguez accused the Conservatives of spreading “disinformation” and trying to “stall” the bill. He restated that regulating what Canadians post online is “definitely not the intent on the bill. It’s not the impact of the bill, either.”

“I’ll be very clear, I’m sending a policy direction soon to the CRTC, it’s going to be even more clear on that policy,” he said. “It’s only about the platforms and their own obligations.”

CRTC PLEDGES NOT TO REGULATE CREATORS

In addition to the policy directive, CRTC-led public consultations will also inform how these new online streaming rules, and the enforcement of them, will work in practice.

Issuing some initial assurance of the regulator’s plans heading into this process, late Thursday, CRTC chair Vicky Eatrides said that the CRTC plans to develop a regulatory framework that will see all players contributing equitably, while vowing that the CRTC “has no intention to regulate creators of user-generated content and their content.”

“The broadcasting system will ensure that online streaming services make meaningful contributions to Canadian and Indigenous content. Creators will have opportunities to tell their stories and Canadians will have access to a greater variety and diversity of content,” said Eatrides.

The CRTC chair said that now that Bill C-11 has passed, the regulatory body is able to begin “building the broadcasting system of the future.”

“We will share our detailed plan and launch the first public consultations shortly. We will adapt our approach in light of any future policy direction. The views of all Canadians will be important at every step,” read the CRTC chair’s statement, inviting both traditional broadcasters and streaming services to provide feedback.

Marking the bill’s passage on Thursday, stakeholders both for and against the Broadcasting Act changes indicated plans to take part in the coming regulatory consultations, noting that the legislation receiving royal assent was not the end of the story. 

Groups representing digital creators say they will be taking their push for concrete user content protections, while those backing the bill say they still want to see assurances that the regulatory framework created won’t instill a two-tier system with traditional broadcasters and foreign streaming giants held to different standards.