Weekly Newsletter for August 13, 2024

Weekly News (August 13, 2024)

Compiled by Brad McNeil with Sara Bannerman

McMaster University, Communications Governance Observatory

(August 8 – 13, 2024)

Canadian News

• [ELECTION CAMPAIGN/BOTS] Online bot campaign backing Pierre Poilievre prompts call for probe by election commissioner (CBC)   
• [ELECTION CAMPAIGN/BOTS] Who really posted those awkward tweets praising a Pierre Poilievre rally? Here’s what might be going on  (Toronto Star) 
• [ONLINE NEWS ACT] Fight brewing at CRTC over Google’s first annual payment to Canadian news outlets (National Post) 
• [ONLINE NEWS ACT] News outlets have $100M from Google to share — but are divided on how to do it  (Toronto Star)  
• [PRIVACY]  Appeal court strikes down law on searching phones, tablets and laptops at border  (Toronto Star) 
• [TELECOMMUNICATIONS/LAWSUIT]  Bell made $64M in revenue from Ontario jail calls, lawsuit alleges  (Global News) 
• [TELECOMMUNICATIONS] CRTC expands ability for internet providers to sell service over telecoms’ networks  (Globe and Mail) 
• [PUBLIC BROADCASTING] CBC paid more than $18-million in bonuses in 2024 after eliminating hundreds of jobs, documents show (Globe and Mail) 
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] Jordan Peterson agrees to social media coaching after Supreme Court declines free speech case (CBC) 
• [BROADCASTING] Conservative MP removes ‘incorrect’ video after saying case could be made to keep CBC radio (National Post) 
• [TELECOMMUNICATIONS] Quebecor calls on telecom regulator to address network access issues as it pushes expansion (Globe and Mail) 
• [ONLINE HARMS/PLATFORM REGULATION] OPINION: Andrew MacDougall:  Let’s put a harness on social media before everything burns down  (Toronto Star) 
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] OPINION: Andrew Coyne: To fix social media, force the platforms to open themselves up to each other (Globe and Mail) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] OPINION: Marie Kelly: Canada must protect actors’ livelihoods from artificial intelligence (Globe and Mail) 
• [ONLINE HARMS/DEEPFAKES/ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] OPINION: Yimin Chen:  Tackling digital sexual violence in Canada requires updated policies and procedures (The Conversation) 
• [PUBLIC BROADCASTING] OPINION: Mark Hill:  If Pierre Poilievre gets his way, the next Olympics might not be so fun to watch  (Toronto Star) 

International News

• [CYBERCRIME] The UN is moving to fight cybercrime but privacy groups say human rights will be violated (City News Toronto) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/DATA PRIVACY] X agrees to not use some EU user data to train AI chatbot (Reuters) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/COPYRIGHT] Copyright group takes down Dutch language AI dataset (Reuters) 
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] YouTube slowdown in Russia darkens freedom of speech outlook (Reuters) 
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] Signal messenger blocked in Russia, says Roskomnadzor -Ifax (Reuters) 
• [ONLINE HARMS/PLATFORM REGULATION] UK revisits social media regulation after far-right riots (Reuters) 
• [CONTENT MODERATION] Labour MPs begin quitting X over ‘hate and disinformation’ (The Guardian)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/PLATFORM REGULATION] Amazon’s $4 Billion Investment in AI Startup Anthropic Comes Under U.K. Scrutiny (Wall Street Journal) 
• [DISINFORMATION/ELECTIONS] Foreign TikTok Networks Spread Political Lies — A flood of anti-Trump videos traced back to webs of overseas accounts  (Wall Street Journal) 
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] X hit with Austrian data use complaint over AI training (Reuters) 
• [BROADCASTING] New chair Kim Williams says ABC should be ‘last broadcaster standing’ and News Corp’s criticism is ‘unbalanced’ (The Guardian) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/DEEPFAKES/LAWSUIT] The Billionaire Suing Facebook to Remove His Face From AI Scams (Wall Street Journal) 
• [CONTENT MODERATION/CENSORSHIP/LAWSUIT] Meta beats censorship lawsuit by RFK Jr’s anti-vaccine group (Reuters) 
• [CONTENT MODERATION] Elon Musk’s X feed becomes megaphone for his far-right politics (Washington Post) 
• [PLATFORM GOVERNANCE/LAWSUIT] World Federation of Advertisers discontinues small brand safety initiative after Elon Musk’s X sues (Globe and Mail) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REGULATION] The FCC proposes requiring robocallers to disclose when they’re using AI (The Verge) 
• [NATIONAL SECURITY/CYBER SECURITY] Thousands of Corporate Secrets Were Left Exposed. This Guy Found Them All (Wired)
• [PRIVACY/ELECTIONS] Can my spouse or partner see who I voted for? (Washington Post) 
• [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] Elon Musk’s Wild Week in the Name of Free Speech (Wall Street Journal) 
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] Democrats flip social media ‘censorship’ complaints on Musk, GOP (Washington Post) 
• [PLATFORM BANS/ONLINE HARMS] Social media bans could deny teenagers mental health help (USA Today) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/MISINFORMATION/ELECTION] Trump falsely accuses Harris campaign of fabricated AI crowd photos  (Washington Post) 
• [CONTENT MODERATION] The friendliest social network you’ve never heard of  (Washington Post) 
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] Law from 1890 can in fact police Big Tech, ruling shows  (Washington Post) 
• [ELECTIONS/CONTENT MODERATION] Pro-Harris accounts labeled as spam on X (Washington Post) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/DEEPFAKES]  Google update makes it easier to scrub nude deepfakes from search results  (Washington Post) 
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REGULATION] Tech Giants See A.I. Deals As Way to Duck Regulation  (New York Times) 
• [ANTITRUST/PLATFORM REGULATION] OPINION: Molly Roberts: What will the Google antitrust ruling mean for search – and all of us?  (Washington Post) 
• [BIG TECH/POLITICS] OPINION: Andy Kessler: Is Silicon Valley Turning Right?(Wall Street Journal) 
• [PRIVACY/LAWSUIT/PLATFORM REGULATION] OPINION: Nicole Russell: COLUMNISTS A fiery Texas politician launched a legal assault on Google and Meta. And he’s winning. (USA Today) 
• [INTERNET POLICY] OPINION: Editorial Board: Net Neutrality Goes Down in Court (Wall Street Journal) 

(August 8 – 13, 2024)

Supreme Court of Canada

• The Supreme Court of Canada has decided the following leave applications.
  • [FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION] (DISMISSED) Jordan Peterson v. College of Psychologists of Ontario (Ontario) (Civil) (By Leave)  
  •  

Competition Bureau Canada

• Competition Bureau seeks feedback on competitor property controls guidance 

Canadian Heritage 

• News Release:
  • The Force of language: the Government of Canada contributes to the adaptation of Star Wars to Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) 
  • Government of Canada strengthens its support for official language minority communities  

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

• Broadcasting and Telecoms
  • Telecom order 2024-179
    [2024-08-12 11:00:00]
    Broadband Fund – Change request – Northwestel Inc.’s Northwest Territories fibre project – Public record: 1011-NOC2019-0191
  • Broadcasting decision 2024-178
    [2024-08-09 11:00:00]
    Société Radio Communautaire du Grand Edmonton Society – Edmonton, Alberta – Application to amend the conditions of service of its French-language community radio station CFED-FM Edmonton 

Microsoft

• Iran Targeting 2024 US Election 

enate of Canada

• The Senate sitting and possible sitting days:  The Senate will not be sitting the week of August 12-16, 2024. The next scheduled sitting day is September 17, 2024.

House of Commons

• The House of Commons sitting and possible sitting days:  The House of Commons will not be sitting the week of August 12-16, 2024. The next scheduled sitting day is September 16, 2024.

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

• Anticipated releases for the week of 5 to 9 August 2024:
  • The CRTC is not planning on issuing any decisions, regulatory policies and reports in the week of 12 to 16 August 2024. This is subject to change without notice. 
• Upcoming Hearings
  • September 14, 2023 – National Capital Region
    To consider the broadcasting applications listed in Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2023-206, View hearing documents (2023-206)
• CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings
• CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings

Consultations:

Spectrum Management Consultations

•  Consultation on a Policy, Licensing and Technical Framework for Supplemental Mobile Coverage by Satellite  – Closing date for comments: September 13, 2024. Closing date for reply to comments: October 25, 2024

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

• Right to Repair Consultation – Closing date for comments: September 26, 2024. 
• Consultation on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Compute – Closing date for comments: September 6, 2024  
• Consultation on a Policy, Licensing and Technical Framework for Supplemental Mobile Coverage by Satellite – closing date for comments: September 13, 2024 

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

• Call for comments on the Independent Local News Fund – Deadline for submission of comments: 6 September 2024 
• Share your thoughts about closed captioning of programming from online streaming services: Deadline: August 19, 2024 
• Share your thoughts about Google’s exemption application under the Online News Act
  • Broadcasting and Online News Act notice of consultation 2024-143-1
    [2024-07-09 11:00:00]
    Call for comments – Application for exemption from the Online News Act by Google – Extension to the deadlines for the submission of documents requested in question 10, of comments and of replies
  • New deadline for submission of documents requested in question 10: 15 July 2024
  • New deadline for submission of comments: 6 August 2024
  • New deadline for submission of replies: 19 August 2024

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