Weekly Newsletter for December 19, 2023

Weekly News (December 19, 2023)

Compiled by Ian Steinberg with Sara Bannerman

McMaster University, Communications Governance Observatory

(December 13 – 19, 2023)

Canadian News 

• [ONLINE NEWS ACT] Ottawa caps CBC’s share of Google funds under Online News Act at $7-million (Globe and Mail)
• [ONLINE NEWS ACT] Google fund favours written media (Toronto Star)
• [ONLINE HARMS] Liberals don’t want to regulate speech with online harms bill, justice minister says (CBC)
• [GENERATIVE AI] Global Affairs offers ‘deepest regrets’ to ‘Inuit and Indigenous communities’ over AI-generated image (Globe and Mail)
• [TELECOM] Rogers reaches deal with other carriers on TTC wireless access (Globe and Mail)
• [FREEDOM OF INFORMATION] Appeals decisions over the years show that government contracts are not private (Globe and Mail)
• [PUBLIC BROADCASTING] Minister mum on confidence in CBC head, says work to find successor begins next year (CBC)

International News

• [CONTENT MODERATION/PLATFORM REGULATION] European Union investigating Musk’s X over possible breaches of social media law (AP) 
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] Western leaders call for the release of Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai as his trial begins (Globe and Mail)
• [CONTENT MODERATION] Meta Oversight Board says Israel-Hamas videos should not have been removed (Reuters)
• [AI GOVERNANCE/AI SAFETY] OpenAI outlines AI safety plan, allowing board to reverse decisions (Reuters)
• [DISINFORMATION] State Dept.’s Fight Against Disinformation Comes Under Attack (New York Times)
• [AI ELECTIONS] The AI election is here (Washington Post)
• [AI REGULATION] US regulators add artificial intelligence to potential financial system risks (Reuters)
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/ANTITRUST] The curious case of Epic Games: how the developer beat Google but not Apple (Guardian)
• [LEGAL AI] English judges get first-ever guidance on artificial intelligence (Reuters)
• [AI ELECTIONS] Imran Khan deploys AI clone to campaign from behind bars in Pakistan (Guardian)
• [AI REGULATION] States poised to lead the charge on AI policy in 2024 (Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] A group representing TikTok, Meta and X sues Utah over strict new limits on app use for minors (AP)
• [PRIVACY] An abused wife took on Tesla over tracking tech. She lost. (Reuters)
• [FAKE NEWS] The rise of AI fake news is creating a ‘misinformation superspreader’ (Washington Post)
• [ONLINE JOURNALISM/AI SEARCH] News Publishers See Google’s AI Search Tool as a Traffic-Destroying Nightmare (Wall Street Journal)
• [PRIVACY] The Failed Promise of Police Body Cameras (New York Times)
• [COPYRIGHT] Mickey Mouse will soon belong to you and me — with some caveats (AP)
• [AI EDUCATION] Hype or Harm? Students Push for A.I. Literacy (New York Times)
• [DEEPFAKES] Putin confronts his AI ‘double’ (Reuters)

(December 13 – 19, 2023)

Supreme Court of Canada  

• [INFORMER PRIVILEGE; OPEN COURTS] December 13, 2023 OTTAWA – Today, the Supreme Court of Canada heard the following appeal and reserved its decision until a later date. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, et al. v. His Majesty the King, et al. (Que.) (Criminal) (By Leave) (40371)

Supreme Court of the United States

• [First Amendment; social media] MURTHY v. MISSOURI

Canadian Heritage 

• Technical briefing for the Online News Act
• Minister St-Onge releases final regulations for the Online News Act
• Backgrounder: Final regulations for the Online News Act

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission 

• Broadcasting and Telecoms:
  • Broadcasting decision 2023-416
    [2023-12-18 11:00:00]
    MusiquePlus inc. – Across Canada – Application to renew the broadcasting licences for the French-language discretionary services ELLE Fictions and MAX – Application to transfer, to the next licence term, of the balance of Canadian programming expenditures not used by Groupe V Média inc. allocated to MusiquePlus as part of the Bell/V transaction 
  • Telecom order 2023-415
    [2023-12-15 11:00:00]
    Streamlined order – The Commission approves on a final basis the following tariff applications: Bell Canada, TN 7678; Northwestel Inc., TN 1194 and TN 1195; TELUS Communications Inc., TN 658 
  • Broadcasting decision 2023-414
    [2023-12-15 11:00:00]
    Pattison Media Ltd. – Various locations in British Columbia and Medicine Hat, Alberta – Application to renew the broadcasting licences for the English-language independent conventional television stations CFJC-TV Kamloops and its transmitters, CKPG-TV Prince George and its transmitter as well as CHAT-TV Medicine Hat, Alberta – Request to decrease the Canadian programming expenditure requirement for each station from 34% to 30% – Request to decrease the expenditure requirement on locally reflective news for each station from 27.5% to 25% – Request to delete various rebroadcasting transmitters from the broadcasting licences of the three stations 
  • Broadcasting decision 2023-413
    [2023-12-14 11:00:00]
    Shaw Pay-Per-View Ltd. – Edmonton, Alberta – Renewal of the broadcasting licence for the English-language direct-to-home on-demand service Shaw Pay-Per-View
  • Telecom order 2023-412
    [2023-12-13 11:00:00]
    Streamlined order – The Commission approves on an interim basis the following tariff applications: Distributel Communications Limited, TN 15 and TN 15A

Competition Bureau Canada

• Important amendments to modernize the Competition Act receive Royal Assent

Global Media and Internet Concentration Project (GMICP)

• Media and Internet Concentration in Canada, 1984–2022

Apple

• Apple expands Self Service Repair and introduces new Diagnostics process

Disney

• Statement From The Walt Disney Company

Google

• TAG Bulletin: Q4 2023
• How AI helps make public health truly public
• Partnering with news publishers to drive innovation and fight misinformation

Meta

• Living in the Future

Microsoft

• Microsoft Cloud for Sovereignty now generally available, opening new pathways for government innovation

Netflix

• What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report

OpenAI

• Partnership with Axel Springer to deepen beneficial use of AI in journalism
• Superalignment Fast Grants

Senate of Canada

• The Senate sitting and possible sitting days: Is not sitting December 18 to 22, 2023. Next sitting day is Feb 6, 2024

House of Commons

• The House of Commons sitting and possible sitting days: Is not sitting December 18 to 22, 2023. Next sitting day is Jan 29, 2024

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

• Anticipated releases for the week of December 18 to 20, 2023: 
  • Broadcasting Decisions:
    • Applications by various licensees to renew the broadcasting licences for television stations
  • Telecom Decisions:
    • Bell Canada – Application to review and vary Telecom Regulatory Policy 2018-377 and Telecom Decision 2022-341
      Public record: 8662-B2-202209973
    • Canadian Administrator of VRS (CAV), Inc. – Application requesting video relay service funding for 2024
      Public record: 8665-C209-202304814
    • Final 2023 revenue-percent charge and related matters
• Upcoming Hearings
  • 2023-369 – Notice of hearing – 8 February 2024 – National Capital Region – Deadline for submission of interventions/comments/answers: 18 December 2023
  • February 12, 2024 – Gatineau, Quebec

Notice of hearing – Review of the wholesale high-speed access service framework – Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2023-56, 2023-56-1, 2023-56-2, and 2023-56-3.

View hearing documents (2023-56)

• CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings
• CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings

Consultations:

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

·         Consultation on Copyright in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence – January 15, 2024

·         Consultation on Amending CPC-2-0-20 — Radio Frequency (RF) Fields—Signs and Access Control – January 4, 2024

Statistics Canada:

·         Census Data on Demand (CDOD) program consultative engagement – March 31, 2024

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

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