It seems that US Republicans are sensing a change in digital policy in Canada and have called for the axing of the Online Streaming Act.
It seems that Canadians have been on a bit of a heater when it comes to good news lately – at least as it revolves around digital policy.
First, it was Canada rescinding the Digital Services Tax following the halting of trade talks. That would have jacked up the cost of pretty much everything online from Amazon purchases to subscriptions to a lot of different things, worsening the affordability crisis for Canadians. So, having that get axed was a good news story for Canada.
Second, it was Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, contemplating rescinding the Online News Act. The Online News Act has been absolutely destroying the Canadian news sector because venture capital overlords owning media conglomerates got both stupid and greedy by pushing this link tax in the first place. It has pretty much failed at every objective it set out to do and created an Online News Act news organization death toll that keeps going up. So, if Carney actually does rescind that Act, it would put the brakes on the destruction and carnage caused by that Act and the media sector can potentially begin the process of healing from that obvious stupidity.
Well, it seems that the good news isn’t stopping there. Word is that US Republicans, of all people, are dialing up the pressure again to have the Online Streaming Act rescinded as well. From MSN:
Republicans on an influential House committee are pushing top Trump administration officials to pressure Canada to kibosh its controversial Online Streaming Act, which they describe as a “major threat” to the trade relationship.
In a July 31 letter obtained by National Post, 18 Republican members of Congress on the powerful House ways and means committee ramped up pressure on White House officials to get Canada to dump the “discriminatory” Act the same way it ditched the Digital Services Tax in late June.
“The fact that the Online Streaming Act already imposes discriminatory obligations and threatens additional obligations imminently is a major threat to our cross-border digital trade relationship,” reads the letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
“As bilateral trade negotiations continue, we urgently request that you engage with your Canadian counterparts to share our concerns and rescind the Online Streaming Act,” they added.
Greer, Bessent and Lutnick are at the forefront of negotiations with Canada for a new trade deal that Mark Carney’s government hopes will eliminate a host of new U.S. tariffs against key Canadian industries.
This is far from the only time the Americans have put pressure on Canada to rescind the Online Streaming Act. Over the years, spanning both the Biden Administration and the Trump Regime, the US has sent numerous warnings and letters demanding that all three (Digital Services Tax, Online News Act, and Online Streaming Act) get rescinded. They understandably pointed out that all three violate the USMCA/CUSMA.
The timing of this letter is, of course, interesting in that Canada is seemingly finally starting to listen to others when it comes to these policies. Before, the government very belligerently ignored everyone – both Americans and domestic experts. They even went so far as to accuse anyone daring to criticize the policies of being “shills for Big Tech” and even going so far as to demand “investigations” into anyone daring to criticize their, at the time, legislation. That is just a sample of what they did to critics over the years. The fact that these laws are starting to get rescinded indicates that there is finally positive movement within the government. So, the US has seemingly decided to remind Canada that the Online Streaming Act is still an outstanding issue for the Americans.
If Carney decides to actually rescind this law, then it would be another great news story for Canada should that happen. As many know, the Online Streaming Act would have allowed the government to order platforms to change their algorithms so that it promotes government certified speech. This while downranking all other content including Canadian produced content. At one point, Canadian regulator, the CRTC, even went so far as to push for the government hijacking of the algorithms to be world wide and not just for domestic users. This, naturally, sparked fears that platforms like YouTube would pull out of Canada altogether among other things.
While this legislation has been law for some time, the affects of the law have not yet been felt. The reason for this is because the CRTC is still undergoing a consultation process on, among other things, how best to screw over Canadian content creators while propping up legacy media companies. In fact, earlier this year, the CRTC, again, cleared its schedule to try and implement the Online Streaming Act. At the time, they pushed things all the way to 2027. Previously, they cleared their schedule for a whopping 2 years to try and implement. Both incidences contradicted what the regulator told senators where the regulator said that regulating the internet was no big deal and that such an exercise was trivial to do because if the regulator can regulate television, they can easily do the same for the internet. All these years later and that assertion is still hilariously stupid. At any rate, that is a very big reason why Canadians have yet to see the changes on their social media accounts. The consultation process is still ongoing.
If Carney finally heeds this warning, there is a possibility that the up and coming damage inflicted by the Online Streaming Act might actually be avoided altogether. In that scenario, Canadians can breath a sigh of relief and finally no longer have to worry about their careers having an expiration date. We haven’t seen any response from the government about this, but there is some reason for hope that momentum might finally be on Canadians side here. Hopefully, that will include the removal of the Online Streaming Act.
Drew Wilson on Mastodon, Twitter and Facebook.
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Should be emphasized (and we shouldn’t be under flase illusions) this Trump Regime not looking out for Canadian free-expression. This is because of annoyance to US businesses. I could already imagine Maple MAGA types thinking otherwise. Still would be good move for Carney government (bill c2 lawful access bs not withstanding) in trade talks and Canadian digital freedom/policy.
This is absolutely true. This is purely an international corporate grievance on the American’s part. The Trump admin could care less about Canadian digital first creators and he has been at war with free speech (in the name of “free speech” of course). The requirements to fork over money and to mess with the algorithms are probably the two issues that they are more concerned about (thus triggering CUSMA/USMCA complaints).
It’s just coincidence that Canadian creators could potentially dodge a huge bullet in the process.
yeah its just really is terrible that several good things Carney can do can be seen as capitulating to Trump. not to say he shouldnt do it. he really should. but several times now the right thing to do has been seen by the public as giving in.
I’ve seen this too, unfortunately. When Carney said that he is rescinding the Digital Services Tax, a number of people elsewhere were moaning about how awful this move was and that Carney should reconsider. My comments about the fact that the tax would be paid by Canadians were either dismissed as silly or ignored completely. I kind of threw my hands up in the air over that. I even saw Conservative party supporters berate Carney for… lowering taxes. That was the ultimate clue that debates like that have long left the realms of basic logic for some people as people obsessively look at it through the lens of capitulation rather than actual affects on people.