Weekly Newsletter for March 25, 2025

Weekly News (March 25, 2025)

Compiled by Brad McNeil and Serra Hasiloglu with Sara Bannerman

McMaster University, Communications Governance Observatory

(March 19 – 25, 2025)

Canadian News

• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/ELECTIONS/ADVERTISING] Meta to seek disclosure on political ads that use AI ahead of Canada elections (Reuters)
• [TELECOMMUNICATIONS] Canada’s spectrum regulator introduces new fee framework for telecom companies (Globe and Mail)
• [TELECOMMUNICATIONS] Canadian governments rely on Starlink for critical services. Some are reconsidering (CTV News)
• [PERSONAL INFORMATION] Canadian arm of China’s largest bank had plans to set up payments processor to collect spending data (Globe and Mail)
• [FREEDOM OF INFORMATION] In response to critics, Nova Scotia amends bills on interprovincial trade, info law (Global News)
• [TRANSPORTATION] City of Toronto bars staff from using American rideshare companies such as Uber (Globe and Mail)
• [PERSONAL INFORMATION/DEFAMATION] OCDSB seeking court order in bid to unmask anonymous ‘redditor’ (CBC)
• [POLICING DATA] Black and Arab people overrepresented in Laval police stops, data show, reflecting broader Quebec pattern (Globe and Mail)
• [LOCAL NEWS/MISINFORMATION] Local news coverage in Canada in steep decline, inviting misinformation: report (CBC)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/INFRASTRUCTURE] Telus to launch AI data centre, a market dominated by U.S. tech giants (Globe and Mail)
• [PRIVACY/PERSONAL INFORMATION] Everyone’s personal data is being extracted, and no one seems to care (Globe and Mail)
• [TRADEMARK] Will the iconic Hudson’s Bay stripes live on? Company reveals it wants to auction off trademarks to highest bidder (Toronto Star)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/ENTERTAINMENT] Some voice actors embrace AI’s potential. Others worry it’s coming for their jobs (CityNews)
• [ARTS & CULTURE/CANADIAN CONTENT] OPINION: J. Kelly Nestruck: Mark Carney’s ditching of a ‘Heritage’ position in cabinet is overdue – and bodes well for living Canadian culture (Globe and Mail)
• [FREE SPEECH] OPINION: Jacob Mchangama: The day free speech began to retreat (Globe and Mail)
• [ELECTIONS/ADVERTISING] OPINION: John Lorinc: We must rethink our electoral safeguards (Toronto Star)
• [JOURNALISM] OPINION: Linda McQuaig: American hedge funds should be banned from owning Canadian newspapers. Democracy is at stake (Toronto Star)
• [MISINFORMATION] OPINION: Peter MacLeod and Taylor Owen: In a changed world, Canada faces an information war. There is an answer (Toronto Star)
• [SURVEILLANCE/POLICING] Opinion: Justin Ling: Ontario police have been linked to a spyware company that makes it easy to hack into phones. They owe us some explanations(Toronto Star)

International News

• [BIG TECH/ PRIVACY] Meta Sued by Pension Funds Over EU’s $1.3 Billion Privacy Fine(Bloomberg)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CHIPS] European lawmakers urge Commission to move quickly on Chips Act 2.0 (Reuters)
• [BIG TECH/ PRIVACY/ADVERTISING] Meta to stop targeting UK citizen with personalised ads after settling privacy case (Guardian)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CHIPS] Malaysia to tighten semiconductor regulations under US pressure, FT reports (Reuters)
• [BIG TECH/PRIVACY/LAWSUIT] Amazon loses court fight against record $812 mln Luxembourg privacy fine (Reuters)
• [SURVEILLANCE/PRIVACY/PERSONAL INFORMATION] China says facial recognition should not be forced on individuals (Reuters)
• [SURVEILLANCE/POLICING] Swedish government proposes bill to allow police to use AI face-recognition (Reuters)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/MILITARY] Oracle to provide cloud computing, AI services to Singapore military (Reuters)
• [BIG TECH/POLITICAL INFLUENCE/PLATFORM REGULATION] X sues Indian government over censorship, upping U.S. pressure on Modi (Washington Post)
• [CYBERSECURITY] Hong Kong aims to safeguard key facilities with new cybersecurity law(Reuters)
• [ONLINE HARMS/SMARTPHONE BAN] Ban smartphones for UK under-16s, urges Adolescence writer (Guardian)
• [PERSONAL INFORMATION] China’s Baidu denies data breach after executive’s daughter leaks personal info (Reuters)
• [PRIVACY/PERSONAL INFORMATION]  Trump’s Social Security chief backs down from ‘shutting down’ agency (Reuters)
• [PRIVAY/PERSONAL INFORMATION] Judge Blocks Education Officials From Providing Sensitive Data to Musk’s Team (New York Times)
• [PRIVACY/PERSONAL INFORMATION] DOGE’s pursuit of data fuels lawmaker’s effort to update privacy law (Washington Post)
• [IMMIGRATION/PRIVACY/TAXPAYER DATA] IRS nears deal with ICE to share addresses of suspected undocumented immigrants (Washington Post)
• [FREE SPEECH] Trump administration abused immigration laws with Khalil’s arrest, Democratic senators say (Reuters)
• [FREE SPEECH] Columbia’s student press says freedom of speech under threat in Khalil case (Globe and Mail)
• [CENSORSHIP] Fearing Trump, Hospital Shuns ‘Trigger’ Words Like ‘Diverse’ (New York Times)
• [DATA CENTERS] Landing a data center is worth the environmental tradeoffs, Illinois towns say (Chicago Tribune)
• [DEFAMATION] Greenpeace must pay pipeline firm $660M US over protests, jury finds(CBC)
• [BIG TECH/CYBERSECURITY] Google to buy cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32B US in company’s biggest ever deal (CBC)
• [PRIVACY/GENETIC DATA] 23andMe Is Bankrupt. Here’s What You Need to Know About Your Genetic Data (Wall Street Journal)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/COPYRIGHT] OPINION: Editorial Board: How to tell when AI models infringe copyright (Washington Post)

(March 19 – 25, 2025)

Federal Court of Canada

• [PRIVACY/PERSONAL INFORMATION] Boland v. Canada (Attorney General) – 2025 FC 523

Federal Court of Appeal

• [PRIVACY/SURVEILLANCE] Hutton v. Sayat – 2025 FCA 66

Elections Canada

• News release:
  • Federal General Election Now Under Way
• Statements and Speeches:
  • Speaking Notes for the Chief Electoral Officer – Press conference

Privy Council Office

• Statement:
  • Statement by Government of Canada on Protecting Canada’s General Elections
• Backgrounders:
  • Measures to protect the 2025 General Election
  • Detecting and reporting disinformation

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

• News releases:
  • Federal government announces support for cutting-edge, AI- and robotics-enabled cell and gene therapy manufacturing
  • Canada to invest in Teledyne to further advance Canada’s semiconductor industry
  • Government of Canada finalizes investment to support Canadian-Born AI leader, Cohere

Public Safety Canada

• News release:
  • Government of Canada invests in protecting children and youth from online sexual exploitation

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

• Speech:
  • Claire Anderson to the Spectrum Summit 2025
• Broadcasting and Telecoms:
  • Broadcasting notice of consultation 2025-52-1
    [2025-03-24 11:00:00]
    Notice of hearing – Postponed (previously 18 June 2025) – Gatineau, Quebec – The Path Forward – Supporting Canadian and Indigenous audio content – Postponement of the public hearing – Public record: 1011-NOC2025-0052
  • Broadcasting notice of consultation 2025-2-1
    [2025-03-24 11:00:00]
    Notice of hearing – Postponed (previously 12 May 2025) – Gatineau, Quebec – The Path Forward – Working towards a sustainable Canadian broadcasting system – Postponement of the public hearing – Public record: 1011-NOC2025-0002
  • Broadcasting notice of consultation 2024-288-2
    [2025-03-24 11:00:00]
    Notice of hearing – Postponed (previously 31 March 2025) – Gatineau, Quebec – The Path Forward – Defining “Canadian program” and supporting the creation and distribution of Canadian programming in the audio-visual sector – Postponement of the public hearing – Public record: 1011-NOC2024-0288
  • Broadcasting information bulletin 2025-80
    [2025-03-21 11:00:00]
    Decision of the Broadcasting Arbitrator

United Nations

• Mind your language: The battle for linguistic diversity in AI
• Haitian media struggle to survive in face of attacks, revenue collapse

Meta

• New Threads Features for a More Personalized Experience That You Control

Microsoft

• Microsoft Ability Summit 2025: Accessibility in the AI era

OpenAI

• Introducing next-generation audio models in the API
• Early methods for studying affective use and emotional well-being on ChatGPT

TikTok

• Protecting Election Integrity in Canada’s 2025 Federal Election
• Launching AMBER Alerts to Americans on TikTok

YouTube

• YouTube and industry leaders announce the Youth Digital Wellbeing Initiative

House of Commons and Senate of Canada 

• The dissolution of the 44th Parliament occurred on March 23, 2025. Parliamentary business, including most committee business, is ended until the 45th Parliament.

Supreme Court of Canada

• The Supreme Court of Canada will decide the following leave applications at 9:45 a.m. ET on Thursday, March 27, 2025.
  • [ACCESS TO INFORMATION] Yazdan Khorsand v. Toronto Police Services Board, et al. (Ont.) (Civil) (By Leave) (41481)
  • [TELECOMMUNICATIONS] Teksavvy Solutions Inc. v. Bell Canada, et al. (Fed.) (Civil) (By Leave) (41486)

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

• Anticipated releases for the week of 24 to 28 March 2025:
  • The CRTC does not plan to issue any decisions, notices of consultation, orders and/or regulatory policies in the week of 24 to 28 March 2025. This is subject to change without notice 
• Upcoming hearings:
  • March 27, 2025 – National Capital Region
    Notice of hearing – The Commission intends to consider the following applications, subject to interventions, without the appearance of the parties in Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2025-18 – View hearing documents (2025-18
  • March 31, 2025 – Gatineau (Québec)
    Notice of hearing – The Path Forward – Defining “Canadian program” and supporting the creation and distribution of Canadian programming in the audio-visual sector in Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2024-288 – View hearing documents (2024-288)            
  • May 12, 2025 – Gatineau (Québec)
    Notice of hearing -The Path Forward – Working towards a sustainable Canadian broadcasting system – Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2025-2 – View hearing documents (2025-2)
  • June 10, 2025 – Gatineau (Québec)
    Notice of hearing – Making it easier for consumers to shop for Internet services – Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2024-318 – View hearing documents (2024-318)
  • June 18, 2025 – Gatineau (Québec)
    Notice of hearing – The Path Forward – Supporting Canadian and Indigenous audio content – Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2025-52 – View hearing documents (2025-52)
• CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings
• CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings

Consultations:

Spectrum Management Consultations

• Consultation on the 26 GHz and 38 GHz Bands – Respondents should submit their comments no later than May 5, 2025 to ensure consideration.

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

• Consultation on the implementation of the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) Forum certifications in Canada – Respondents should complete the online consultation form and submit their feedback no later than June 30, 2025.

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

• Share your thoughts on Canadian content for audio services – End date: April 7, 2025

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

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