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The Catch-22 of Canadian Digital Sovereignty
My latest Globe and Mail op-ed begins by noting that digital sovereignty has emerged as the watchword driving Canada’s digital policy agenda, as the government seeks to position the country as a global leader in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. The increased emphasis on digital policy is welcome given the years of neglect or failed strategies that yielded little more than court challenges, trade disputes and blocked news links. Yet the focus on infrastructure spending as the key catalyst for addressing digital sovereignty risks is misplaced and unlikely to safeguard against lost autonomy and control.
The Most Unworkable Internet Law in the World: Quebec Opens the Door to Mandating Minimum French Content Quotas for User Generated Content on Social Media
The Quebec government has amended its Internet streaming legislation by removing an exemption for social media services, establishing the most unworkable social media regulation in the world with companies required to meet both French language minimum content quotas and discoverability requirements. I previously argued that Bill 109, which has now completed its clause-by-clause review, is unconstitutional, unnecessary, and unworkable. If enacted into law, it is sure to face a constitutional challenge and the prospect that streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify will either block the Quebec market or be forced to remove considerable English and foreign language content in order to comply. The result will mean less choice for Quebec-based subscribers without any requirements for more Quebec content (the law applies to French language content, not Quebec-based content).
Incredibly, the government, led on the file by Minister of Culture and Communications Mathieu Lacombe, has managed to make an awful bill even worse.
CRTC Says No Regulatory Action Planned Against Meta For Blocking News Links
In the months leading up to the effective date of the Online News Act, then-Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge urged the CRTC to investigate Meta’s decision to block news links on its Facebook and Instagram platforms as its method of compliance. Pointing to reports of people screenshotting news articles and the use of other workarounds the blocking of news links that came in response to the Online News Act (Bill C-18), St-Onge said “I cant wait to see what the CRTC will do when the law is fully enforced on Dec. 19.” As the law took effect and the issue grew, the CRTC did indeed send Meta a letter in October 2024 asking for information on how the company was complying with the legislation. I wrote about this request soon afterward, providing a detailed analysis of the law that sought to explain why some news sites might fall outside the scope of the legislation along with the legal grey area of screenshots.
This week, the CRTC finally responded to Meta on the issue.
Why Freedom of Expression Must Not Become a Right to Harass or Intimidate
My latest Globe and Mail op-ed opens by noting that my grandparents arrived in Canada in 1948, seeking to build a new life after surviving the Holocaust and knowing that most of their family had been killed in the death camps. They settled in Toronto, and in their later years moved to the northern part of the city, where my grandfather would go on daily walks in his predominantly Jewish residential area. He passed away many years ago, but those walks came to mind recently as I watched video of masked protesters roaming the same streets in north Toronto, leaving many residents fearful of leaving their homes.
Reversing the Reversal?: Government Puts Privacy Invasive Lawful Access Back on the Agenda
Last month, the government seemingly reversed course on its lawful access plans to grant law enforcement powers to demand warrantless access to personal information from any provider of a service in Canada. Buried in Bill C-2, a border measures bill, the lawful access provisions were the most expansive in Canadian history covering everyone from telecom providers to physicians to hotels. The bill sparked widespread opposition amid concerns that it was inconsistent with multiple Supreme Court of Canada decisions and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Yet it now appears that the reversal was short lived. Yesterday, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangree, Transport Minister Steve McKinnon, Secretary of State for Combatting Crime MP Ruby Sahota and a group of Liberal MPs held a press conference to urge swift passage of lawful access.
Recent Posts
The Catch-22 of Canadian Digital Sovereignty 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 253: Guy Rub on the Unconvincing Case for a New Canadian Artists’ Resale Right 
The Most Unworkable Internet Law in the World: Quebec Opens the Door to Mandating Minimum French Content Quotas for User Generated Content on Social Media 
CRTC Says No Regulatory Action Planned Against Meta For Blocking News Links 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 252: Len St-Aubin on the CRTC’s Plan To Modernize Canadian Content Rules
