Amendments to Bill C-10 would require YouTube, other platforms to recommend Canadian content

A person in a face mask uses their phone in Montreal, on Aug. 16, 2020. Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press The Liberal government is proposing new amendments to Bill C-10, which outlines changes to the Broadcasting Act, aimed at requiring YouTube and other streaming platforms to recommend Canadian content and divert a share of Canadian revenues toward cultural production funds. The Liberals say the amendments make it clear that the legislative changes related to social media platforms are not focused on regulating the individual posts of Canadians – but some critics of the bill remain unconvinced. The government said the intention of Bill C-10 is to bring streaming platforms such as Netflix under the existing regulations that apply to traditional broadcasters, such as TV and radio stations. The Liberals say the bill and its latest amendments are to ensure new regulations only apply to online platforms such as YouTube when the service is acting like a broadcaster – for example, by streaming professionally made content such as music videos. One of the government’s new amendments would alter a section related to the powers of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the federal broadcasting regulator. That amendment states that the new regulatory…
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