Commentary
Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act, is the latest building block to be added to the foundation of Canada’s forthcoming surveillance state.
If Bill C-34 is passed into law, it’s only a matter of time before the federal government knows the location, monitors the movement, and tracks the communications of every Canadian. Bill C-34, together with other federal laws, will provide the government with intimate knowledge of how and when we use social media, AI, and the internet generally.
The first building block of Canada’s surveillance state was the Online Streaming Act (Bill C-11), which expanded the power of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission beyond radio and television to include the internet as well. The CRTC now has unprecedented regulatory authority to monitor all online audiovisual content. The CRTC forces major streaming and social media platforms to manipulate their algorithms to push what the CRTC determines to be “Canadian.” YouTube, Netflix, and TikTok must now tweak their automated recommendation engines to showcase CRTC-designated “Canadian” content, thereby shifting what Canadians see when they log in. The CRTC’s power includes punishing those who fail to comply with its rules….