Martin Kratz, KC

Hours after @justintrudeau said the government would never move ahead with the party’s combatting disinformation resolution that raised press freedom concerns, Liberal MP says it was one of her top 3 issues and will be a top priority moving forward. teapawt.net/JulieDzerowicz/status/…

If you’re a culture group that criticizes Bill C-11, government MPs call you a shill and seek investigations into your funding. If you support the bill while receiving hundreds of thousands in government funding, no such questions. canada.ca/en/canadian-herita… teapawt.net/mgeist/status/16517272…

This is an exceptional piece walking through the policy disaster that is Bill C-18. I’m struck that it contains 25 links to other sources. If posted on Facebook, the government maintains that each of those links brings the piece into the bill’s scope. teapawt.net/marcedge1/status/16385…

(5) Even as MPs claim not linking puts Canadians’ lives at risk, Heritage Minister @pablorodriguez acknowledge that it is Bill C-18 that creates a business choice. That choice amounts to link and be subject to mandated payments or don't link. 5/5 michaelgeist.ca/2023/03/the-…

(4) The government promote a Parliamentary Budget Office estimate on the benefits from Bill C-18 only to distance itself from the report after it was revealed that 75% of the revenues would go to broadcasters such as Bell, Rogers and the CBC. 4/5 michaelgeist.ca/2022/10/broa…

(3) The government deny that the bill is a link tax even as the lead Heritage official on the bill explicitly confirmed to committee that simply adding a link to a Facebook post would bring the post into scope of the law. 3/5 michaelgeist.ca/2022/11/free…

(2) Heritage Minister @pablorodriguez say Bill C-18 “has nothing to do with how Facebook makes news available to Canadians” even as the bill itself references “platforms that make news content available” in the title. 2/5 teapawt.net/mgeist/status/16356205…

How big of a mess is the government's defence of Bill C-18 and mandated payments for links?: (1) We’ve had Liberal MP @LisaHepfner equate posting links - often posted by the news organizations themselves - as “stealing” local journalists’ articles. 1/5 michaelgeist.ca/2022/12/the-…

The overbreadth in demanding private third party communications as a response to the companies' reluctance to pay for 35% of all news expenditures in Canada for linking is deeply troubling. Investigating big tech is welcome. Snooping on Canadians’ communications is not. 8/8

Are you a researcher who wrote to Google or Meta to request access to data for research into anything from tax policy to police use of social media? The committee wants Google or Meta to disclose your private communications. 7/8

Are you a privacy advocate who wrote to Google about the privacy consent standards in Bill C-27 and to press them on how the right to be forgotten might be addressed in Canada? The committee wants Google to disclose your private communications. 6/8

Are you an independent media site owner that wrote to Instagram to express concern about Bill C-18 and inquire what mandated payments for links might mean for your business plan? The committee wants Meta to disclose your private communications. 5/8

Are you an anti-hate campaigner who wrote to Facebook to learn more about how it would address online harms proposals that would have required them to establish automated reporting to the police? The committee wants Meta to disclose your private communications. 4/8

Are you a YouTuber who wrote to the Internet streamer to learn more about Bill C-11 and get its reaction to the regulation of user content? The committee wants Google to disclose your private communications. 3/8

There is value in investigating Internet platforms for anti-competitive behaviour or privacy violations. The Privacy Commissioner and Competition Bureau are there to do it. But government committee hearings that sweep in thousands of Canadians’ communications is wrong. 2/8

The government’s demand that more than 3 years of private third-party communications be turned over by Meta or Google to a Commons committee about any Canadian regulation is genuinely frightening. This is more than just retribution for objecting to link payments in Bill C-18. 1/8

How could user content regulation in Bill C-11 affect the expression of Canadians? Conservative MP @RaquelDancho provides a good explanation of the impact of discoverability regulations on user content. No other country in the world does this.

The Consequence of Mandated Payments for Links: Facebook Confirms It Will Drop News Sharing in Canada Under Bill C-18 michaelgeist.ca/2023/03/the-…