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OTTAWA —
The Department of Justice has concluded that recent amendments to Bill C-10 would not restrict the freedom of expression of social media users under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
It comes as the Liberals face scrutiny for removing an exemption that protects individuals’ online content from its proposed Broadcasting Act changes that were aimed at ensuring major social media platforms and streaming services such as Netflix, Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, and Spotify pay their fair share towards Canadian artists and are held to similar standards as regular broadcasters.
In the new analysis, the department found: “The effect of the proposed removal of clause three is that an online undertaking that provides a social media service could be subject to regulation under the Act in respect of the programs uploaded by its unaffiliated users.”
However, it states a separate clause exempting individuals from being regulated remains, which means “unaffiliated users of social media services would not be subject to broadcasting regulation in respect of the programs they post.”
The House of Commons’ heritage committee is studying the bill and has requested the presence of Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault and Justice Minister David Lametti before MPs resume clause-by-clause. Guilbeault is slated to appear on Friday.
Earlier this week, Guilbeault walked back comments that under the bill, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) could impose discoverability regulations on individuals who have a large-enough following online.
In a new statement sent to CTV News late Sunday night, the minister said he used “unclear” language when he referred to people and online channels being subject to federal regulations as part of the government’s updates to the Broadcasting Act.
In the interview on CTV’s Question Period that aired earlier that day, the minister said more than once that while the CRTC isn’t going to be regulating everyday users’ content, the regulator could have powers related to the discoverability of online content for people whose channels have “millions of viewers,” are “generating a lot of money on social media,” and are “acting like broadcasters.”
“What we want to do, this law should apply to people who are broadcasters, or act like broadcasters. So if you have a YouTube channel with millions of viewers, and you’re deriving revenues from that, then at some point the CRTC will be asked to put a threshold. But we’re talking about broadcasters here, we’re not talking about everyday citizens posting stuff on their YouTube channel,” Guilbeault said in the interview.
More to come…
With files from CTV News’ Rachel Aiello
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