Weekly News (February 28, 2023)

Compiled by Brad McNeil, Kyle Wyndham-West, and Beatrice Sunderland, with Sara Bannerman and Fenwick McKelvey

McMaster University, Communications Governance Observatory

(February 21 -February 27, 2023)

Canadian News 

• [ELECTIONS/CYBERSECURITY] Former Trudeau advisers call for public inquiry into China’s election interference (The Globe and Mail)
• [ELECTIONS/CYBERSECURITY] Former chief electoral officer calls for independent inquiry into Chinese interference in Canadian elections (The Globe and Mail)
• [ELECTIONS/CYBERSECURITY] Trudeau rules out public inquiry into Chinese electoral interference (The Globe and Mail) / 
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE / ONLINE NEWS ACT] Google tests blocking news content for some Canadians (Reuters) / Google teste le blocage des nouvelles au Canada (La Presse)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE / ONLINE NEWS ACT] Justin Trudeau critique Google au sujet de son blocage de contenus journalistiques (Le Devoir) / Trudeau condemns Google’s decision to block some Canadians’ search for news as a ‘terrible mistake’ (The Globe and Mail)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE / ONLINE NEWS ACT] Un comité enquêtera sur la censure des contenus par Google (La Presse)
• [TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY] Le CRTC exigera d’être prévenu des pannes de fournisseurs de services de télécoms (La Presse)
• [PLATFORM RÉGULATION] Québec prêt à serrer la vis à Spotify et à Netflix (Interview with Quebec Minister of Culture, Mathieu Lacombe) (Le Devoir)
• [COMPÉTITION/TELECOM POLICY] Expansion de Vidéotron hors Québec : « Nous sommes prêts » (La Presse)
• [COMPETITION/TELECOM POLICY] Rogers and Shaw defend Videotron deal in new CRTC filings (The Globe and Mail)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION / CYBERSECURITY / PRIVACY] TikTok banned on all mobile devices owned by Canadian government, effective Tuesday (The Globe and Mail)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION / CYBERSECURITY / PRIVACY] 4 Canadian privacy regulators to undertake joint probe of TikTok (The CBC)
• [MISINFORMATION] Misinformation is hard to fight — but Justin Trudeau has options, experts say (The Toronto Star)
• [PRIVACY] Synthetic data puts privacy at the heart of AI projects (The Globe and Mail)
• [PRIVACY] Indigo employees’ personal information breached as part of ransomware attack on retailer (The Globe and Mail)

International News

• [PLATFORM REGULATION] As ChatGPT hype soars, FTC warns Silicon Valley not to oversell its AI (The Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] 5 key moments from the Supreme Court’s Gonzalez v. Google arguments (The Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM RÉGULATION] Les réseaux sociaux mis en cause dans des attentats (La Presse)
• [CONTENT MODERATION] New report on covid-19 origin puts social media in GOP’s crosshairs (The Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] Biden finds breaking up Big Tech is hard to do (The Washington Post)
• [MISINFORMATION] Murdoch says some Fox hosts ‘endorsed’ false election claims (AP News)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Could Musk’s cuts open Twitter to lawsuits over terrorist content? (The Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] Russian propagandists are buying Twitter blue-check verifications (Washington Post)

(February 21 -February 27, 2023)

Supreme Court of Canada

• The Supreme Court of Canada announced today that judgment in the following leave applications will be delivered at 9:45 a.m. EST on Thursday, March 2, 2023. This list is subject to change.
  • 40266  Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, et al. v. His Majesty the King in Right of the Province of British Columbia, et al.  (British Columbia) (Criminal) (By Leave)
    •   Criminal law – Evidence – Criminal law — Evidence — Third party access to records created in alternative measures program — Where documents are put under the control of the court by statute though not in a court file, does the “desirable in the proper administration of justice” test mandate a Dagenais/Mentuck approach to access — Whether the court below erred in holding that the “desirable in the proper administration of justice” test was not satisfied in the case of journalists seeking records to show what Alternative Measures an accused completed in order to obtain a stay of sexual assault criminal charges?
  • 40298  Vidéotron ltée c. Ville de Québec, et al.  (Québec) (Civile) (Autorisation)
    • La demande d’autorisation d’appel de l’arrêt de la Cour d’appel du Québec (Montréal), numéros 200-09-010096-193, 500-09-028564-193, 500-09-028573-194 et 500-09-028577-195, 2022 QCCA 594, daté du 2 mai 2022, est rejetée avec dépens.

CRTC

• CRTC takes action to ensure Canadians have access to reliable telecommunications services
  • Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2023-41 (2020-178) 
• Statement by the CRTC Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Vicky Eatrides, on the government’s telecommunications policy direction 

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

• Commissioners launch joint investigation into TikTok 

Copyright Board of Canada 

• The Board has approved SOCAN Tariff 22.D.3 – Audiovisual Services Allied With Programming and Distribution Undertakings (2007-2013). The reasons for the decision and the approved tariff are available
• The Board publishes SOCAN’s Notice of Intent to Amend its proposed tariffs SOCAN Tariff 22.A – Internet – Online Music Services for the years 2014 to 2018 

Canadian Intellectual Property Office

• CIPO releases its 2023−2028 Business Strategy 
• CIPO releases its 2020−2021 Annual Report 

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

• Governments of Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador invest up to $94 million to bring high-speed Internet to more than 36,000 homes in over 350 communities across the province  

Youtube

• Concerns about draft EU political ad rules and freedom of expression 

Senate of Canada

• Planned and Possible Sitting Days: The Senate does not plan to sit this week. Next sitting day: March 7

House of Commons

• Planned and Possible Sitting Days: The House of Commons does not plan to sit this week. Next sitting day: March 6

CRTC

• Anticipated releases for the week of 27 February to 3 March 2023: The CRTC is not planning on issuing any decisions, regulatory policies and reports in the week of 27 February to 3 March 2023. This is subject to change without notice. 

• Upcoming Hearing:
  • April 17, 2023 – Whitehorse, Yukon: Call for comments – Telecommunications in the Far North, Phase II – Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2022-147, 2022-147-1, 2022-147-2 View hearing documents (2022-147)

Open Proceedings

• CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings
• CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings

Public Consultations:

• CRTC
  • Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2023-39 – Call for comments – Development of a regulatory framework to improve network reliability and resiliency – Mandatory notification and reporting about major telecommunications service outages  
• Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada 
  • Consultation on the future of competition policy in Canada (November 17, 2022 to March 31, 2023) 
  • Strategic Intellectual Property Program Review (November 15, 2022 to March 31, 2023) 
  • Visible minority concept consultative engagement (October 11, 2022 to June 30, 2023) 
  • Consultation on the Spectrum Licence Renewal Process for Wireless Communication Services (WCS) Licences (January 31, 2023 to March 14, 2023)  
  • Consultation on Amending CPC-2-0-20 — Radio Frequency (RF) Fields – Signs and Access Control (January 31, 2023 to March 20, 2023) 
  • Consultation on the Spectrum Licence Renewal Process for Wireless Communication Services (WCS) Licences (January 31, 2023 to March 14, 2023) 

Have a suggestion? Email Sara Bannerman at banners@mcmaster.ca 

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