Bill C-11 is supposed to be about promoting Canadian storytelling online – but right now, the Bill is so broadly worded it lets the CRTC interfere with every part of your online life.
First, the CRTC is being given breathtakingly broad authority to regulate almost ALL audiovisual content on online platforms as broadcasting content.2 Your Netflix and YouTube favourites, the TikToks you make, and the podcasts you listen to could all be regulated as ‘broadcasting,’ subject to CRTC broadcasting rules and requirements.
And that’s not all. The CRTC will also be manipulating your feeds and search results. Your favourite content, and even your own uploads, could be systemically downranked in favour of content that the CRTC deems “Canadian enough,” according to their wildly outdated 1980s-era criteria.3,4,5
Unsurprisingly, you'll find many of your favourite movies, YouTube channels, and TV shows don't fit the bill of what they think is "Canadian".6,7
Useless search results, playlists full of content that doesn’t interest us, and a government-appointed CRTC that has the power to censor our posts – that’s not the Internet Canada deserves, but it is what we’re going to get if we don’t SPEAK UP.
There’s one last chance to stop this. The Senate is the last body that will decide: but will they pass Bill C-11 as is and break our Internet, or amend it so it respects our content and choices? Raise your voice: sign the petition demanding they fix Bill C-11 NOW!