Fix Bill C-11: Hands off our content!

The Online Streaming Act is moving rapidly through Parliament - and it STILL gives the CRTC power to regulate YOUR videos, podcasts, Netflix recommendations and more.

Legislation that gives the CRTC the power to manipulate our feeds and apply broadcasting standards to our video posts is the last thing Canada needs.

We only have a brief window to convince Members of Parliament that this version of Bill C-11 is disastrous to our online freedom of expression and must be fixed. Join us in demanding that your MP fixes Bill C-11!

To: Your Member of Parliament

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Dear {contact_data~firstName} {contact_data~lastName},

As a constituent in your riding, I am writing to urge you to fix Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act. 
 
I am deeply troubled by the impact this legislation will have on the online content I consume. Despite amendments since 2021’s Bill C-10, the government has not clearly addressed the problems with that bill.
 
First, Bill C-11 continues to give the CRTC regulatory authority over user posts. The exceptions defined in Section 4.2(2) are so broadly defined that they continue to cover almost all user content on the internet, giving the CRTC regulatory authority over podcasts, TikTok and much more.
 
Second, Bill C-11 gives the CRTC the power to require platforms to edit all our feeds and playlists to include mandatory content the CRTC judges “Canadian.” The government simply should not be in the business of manipulating what kind of content appears in my feed and search results. 
 
Promoting Canadian cultural content is a noble objective, but any measures to do so should respect user choice, requiring platforms to produce feeds or playlists that feature that content, but not forcing it into places where we have other personal objectives. 
 
I strongly implore you to demand the following amendments to Bill C-11:
 
1. Clear and definitive exclusion of ALL user-generated content from CRTC control. Everyday users like myself should never be at risk of our content being subject to any broadcasting regulation. 
 
2. The bill must respect user choice and remove the CRTC’s ability to manipulate feeds and user searches.  
 
If the government is unwilling to make these fixes, I urge you to vote NO on Bill C-11. The risks to user expression must be addressed before the government moves any streaming legislation forward.

Sincerely,

{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

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Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, gives the CRTC breathtakingly broad authority to regulate ALL audiovisual content on online platforms as broadcasting content.¹ Your Netflix favourites, the TikToks you make, and the podcasts you listen to are all at risk under the current version of the Bill of being regulated as ‘broadcasting’, subject to the full scope of CRTC broadcasting control. Your favourite content, and even your own uploads could be automatically downranked in search results and feeds in favour of content that the CRTC deems “Canadian enough,” according to their 1980s era CanCon criteria for what’s Canadian.²

While the government has introduced amendments in-between Bill C-11 and last year’s disastrous Bill C-10 to try to limit these harms, the reality is that the job is still not done; our user content and feeds are still squarely under CRTC control, with huge areas left open for them to interpret as they see fit.^3.4

That’s the same CRTC that has been siding more and more in recent years with big business against Canadians and small businesses, given tremendous discretionary power to pick winners and losers on Canada’s Internet.⁵ Their legacy media buddies who have profited from our broken CanCon for YEARS will remain at the top, but the interests of Canadians and digital-first creators? Not so much.

Passing this legislation as it stands would have an irreversible negative impact on the everyday content we share and view online.

The clock is ticking, and we’ve got just days left to be heard. Speak out now: tell your MP #HandsOff our content and our feeds!

Sources

Online Streaming Act Bill C-11 Repeats Bill C-10's Mistakes- OpenMedia
Everything you didn't know about CanCon- OpenMedia
The Government’s Gaslighting of the Online Streaming Act (Or Why Bill C-11 Regulates User Generated Content)- Michael Geist
Bill C-11’s Foundational Faults, Part Three: Why the Discoverability Rules Are a Flawed Solution in Search of a Problem- Michael Geist
5t’s time for a public interest champion to take over at the CRTC- OpenMedia

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Press: Matt Hatfield | Phone: +1 (888) 441-2640 ext. 0 | [email protected]