Canada's Bill C-10 (Online Streaming Act) — CRTC Regulation of User-Generated Content

Bill C-10 (the Online Streaming Act, later passed as Bill C-11) sought to extend Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) broadcast regulation to user-generated content on platforms including YouTube, TikTok, and Spotify. An amendment removed Section 4.1 — a clause that had exempted user-generated content — alarming free speech advocates who noted it would subject ordinary Canadians' posts to state broadcast regulation. The final Act passed in 2023, granting the CRTC powers to require platforms to promote Canadian content — critics argued this created a content-prioritisation regime with government-dictated speech hierarchies.

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