The Canadian political and business communities are unsurprisingly focused on the prospect of U.S. President Donald Trump instituting 25% tariffs on Canadian goods and services. The threat of tariffs, which could spark a retaliatory response by Canada and fuel a damaging trade war, would likely cause serious harm to the Canadian economy. But tariffs aren’t the only story arising from new Trump actions in his first day in office. Amidst the many executive orders signed on day one are several with significant implications for Canadian law, particularly Canadian digital policies such as the digital services tax, mandated streaming payments arising from Bill C-11, and mandated payments for news links due to Bill C-18. When combined the government’s decision to prorogue Parliament earlier this month, the results of years of Canadian digital laws and policies now largely fall into two groups: those that have died due to prorogation and those that are likely to die due to Donald Trump.
Latest Posts
New Era and New Risks: Meta’s Content Moderation Reforms and Freedom of Expression Online
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg yesterday announced significant new changes to the company’s content moderation policies. The five-minute video is worth watching in its entirety, as it demonstrates the shifting political sands that seemingly pressured even the world’s largest social media company to pay heed. Zuckerberg said the company’s reliance on third-party fact checkers had resulted in too much censorship and vowed to return to an emphasis on freedom of expression. That means the fact checkers are gone, replaced by the Twitter (X) model of community notes. Moreover, the company is moving its content moderation team from California to Texas (a nod to claims the California-based teams were biased), increasing the amount of political content in user feeds, and pledging to work with the Trump administration to combat content regulation elsewhere, including in Europe and South America.
The Year of Disbelief: The Relentless Rise of Antisemitism in Canada
I’ve posted several year-in-reviews of Canadian digital policy (blogs, podcasts, Substacks), but the most important story this year for me and the Jewish community was the relentless rise of antisemitism in Canada. Over the course of the year, I appeared before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to emphasize the chilling effect of antisemitism, wrote op-eds in the Globe and Mail (2), National Post, and the Hub, and posted countless pieces on antisemitism in our streets and campuses. There were posts on the need for academic institutions to adhere to the principle of institutional neutrality, support for the government’s guide on the IHRA definition of antisemitism, social media challenges, and even a podcast on Wikipedia’s antisemitism problem. Canada is not alone in dealing with a dramatic rise in antisemitism, but when the attacks hit your synagogue, school, or community centre and it is your leaders that fail to respond, it hits close to home.
The Year in Review: Top Ten Michael Geist Substacks
My look back at 2024 concludes with a review of my most popular Substacks of the year. Unlike last year, where was considerable overlap between my most popular blog posts and Substacks, this year the list quite different. The Substack list features a significant emphasis on antisemitism in Canada in the wake of the October 2023 terror attacks, which occupy the top three posts and five of the top ten.
The Year in Review: Top Ten Law Bytes Podcast Episodes
The final Law Bytes podcast of 2024 released last week took a look back at the year in digital policy. With the podcast on a holiday break, this post looks back at the ten most popular episodes of the year. Topping the charts this year was a debate with Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne, who graciously agreed to come on the podcast to defend her Bill S-210. The Online Harms Act captured three of the top ten spots with additional focus on AI regulation, copyright, privacy, and media regulation.
Recent Posts
Why Years of Canadian Digital Policy Is Either Dead (Prorogation) or Likely to Die (Trump) 
New Era and New Risks: Meta’s Content Moderation Reforms and Freedom of Expression Online 
The Year of Disbelief: The Relentless Rise of Antisemitism in Canada 
The Year in Review: Top Ten Michael Geist Substacks 
The Year in Review: Top Ten Law Bytes Podcast Episodes
