Post Tagged with: "bill 109"

Mathieu Lacombe, en 2023.jpg by Lion254 CC0 1.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mathieu_Lacombe,_en_2023.jpg

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.

Quebec’s Streaming Regulation Bill 109: Unconstitutional, Unnecessary, and Unworkable

The federal government’s plans to regulate internet streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify through the Online Streaming Act have been mired in regulatory battles and court cases for many months. My Globe and Mail op-ed notes that the government’s plans finally took a small step forward last month, as Canada’s broadcast regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, completed weeks of hearings into what counts as Canadian content, or “Cancon.”

Yet in the midst of the latest hearings, the Quebec government threw a monkey wrench into the entire process. Not content to wait for the CRTC process to play out, the provincial government introduced its own streaming regulation bill that is likely to spark a constitutional challenge. Quebec’s Bill 109 contemplates government intervention into how content is presented to subscribers, and would introduce unprecedented quota requirements that could lead to blocked services in Quebec or the removal of thousands of non-French titles from content libraries.