The internet has been one of the greatest tools for the free flow of information in human history. But for our neighbors up north, it might not remain so useful for much longer — if Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gets his way.
Trudeau and his allies are pushing forward with legislation known as the “Online Streaming Act” that would enact government mandates controlling what Canadians see on major online platforms such as YouTube.
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“The Online Streaming Act creates a framework to regulate digital streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney+ and Spotify, and would require them to contribute to the creation and promotion of Canadian content,” the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports. “[It] wants to give new power to the country's broadcasting regulator and extend the current broadcasting policy to the digital realm.”
As Rupa Subramanya explained in The Free Press, it would essentially create an affirmative-action style system wherein major platforms are forced to promote more content made by Canadians to Canadian viewers. What Canadians see on their feeds would become, as YouTube’s Neal Mohan put it, based on what “a Canadian Government regulator has prioritized, rather than content they are interested in.”
Does anyone really want government officials deciding what shows up on their timelines? There’s something inherently Orwellian about such a relationship, and it opens the door to a level of state control of the internet that undermines its inherent ability to keep the government in check and hold it accountable.
They’re attempting to justify all this by claiming that the regulation would help Canadian creators. But, as is so often the case with heavy-handed government intervention, it could have unintended consequences that actually achieve the opposite result.
By forcing companies to show Canadian creators’ content to Canadians, whether it suits their interests or not, the government could cause creators’ content to receive bad engagement signals (people clicking away, hitting the dislike button, etc.) that end up down-ranking it in algorithms and reducing the content’s overall audience.
Hence why many Canadian creators have actually spoken out against the legislation.
Not that Trudeau particularly cares. As his past statements and actions toward protesters have made clear, the Canadian leader doesn’t care about free speech or free expression one whit. So, to some extent, Canadians are simply getting the infringements on the freedom they voted for. But that doesn’t make it right.
More broadly, we need to carefully guard against this kind of infringement here in the United States. Our political situation really isn’t that far removed from what they’re facing up north. Popular progressive thought leaders such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have literally introduced legislation to de facto nationalize (have the government take over) the provision of internet connection.
Meanwhile, there is legislation moving through Congress, known as the “RESTRICT Act,” would not only ban TikTok for the 150 million Americans who use the social media app but also give the federal government radical new powers over the internet. And even some Republicans, such as Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), are backing bills to have the federal authorities tell Americans how they’re allowed to use social media.
Most Americans take our free and open access to the internet for granted. But it’s very much in jeopardy. And if we don’t jealously guard our free speech, it won’t be long before we wind up facing even worse infringements on our freedom than what’s confronting our neighbors up north.
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Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo) is a libertarian-conservative journalist and the co-founder of BASEDPolitics.