Canada to compel web titans to boost domestic content

The Canadian Senate passed a long-debated law Thursday that will require streaming platforms like Netflix, YouTube and Spotify to do more to support Canadian content, or face financial penalties.

The Online Streaming Act creates a legal framework to regulate digital platforms and oblige them to contribute financially to the "creation, production and distribution" of Canadian content such as music and TV shows as well as its promotion.

More specifically, the platforms will have to highlight and recommend Canadian programming, in both English and French as well as in Aboriginal languages, the law states.

"Canadian artists, producers, creators, and our cultural industry can now count on a fair shot at success in the digital age," Canada's Heritage Ministry said in a statement.

The new measure received Royal Assent in the evening, the last step required to be enacted.

Long promised by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government, the new legislation gives more power to broadcasting regulator the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to force internet titans to follow the same rules as other Canadian media or risk financial penalties.

Canadian television and radio stations are already required to air anywhere from 35 percent to 55 percent locally produced content.

The act aims to "level the playing field and support Canadian creators and storytellers by increasing investment in Canadian culture," the ministry release said.

Debated for nearly 18 months, the measure has been criticized by the Conservative opposition as an attack on freedom of expression on the Internet.

Some fear that its lack of precision in defining who is covered could lead to the regulation of people who post amateur content on the web.

For its part, YouTube has launched an online campaign arguing that the new law could force it to offer "content that a Canadian government regulator has prioritized, rather than content that (users) are interested in."

The new Canadian law is part of a series of measures introduced by the Liberal government to better regulate the web giants.

Parliament is currently considering a bill that would require them to pay a royalty when they use Canadian media content.