Canada Online Streaming Act (C-11)
What it does
C-11 extended the Broadcasting Act to online platforms: streaming and audio services must register with the CRTC, contribute to Canadian content funds, and make Canadian content discoverable, meaning the regulator influences what platforms surface. The Act says user content is excluded, then lets the CRTC regulate user content that generates revenue, the carve-out that fueled two years of fighting. Royal assent came April 27, 2023, and the CRTC has been building the regime through hearings and orders since.
Why it matters
A broadcast regulator now has jurisdiction over the open internet in Canada, and discoverability rules mean a government agency shapes recommendation feeds. The user-content carve-out was the warning: exclusions written by the regulator being empowered tend to have exceptions.
Our take
The fight over C-11 came down to the CRTC gaining a foothold over what platforms show Canadians, with the content-fund payments as the respectable cover. The foothold is law. The CRTC orders since are the actual policy, written where the audience is smallest.
Timeline
- February 2, 2022First reading (Commons)
- May 12, 2022Second reading (Commons)
- June 21, 2022First reading (Senate)
- June 21, 2022Passed the Commons
- October 25, 2022Second reading (Senate)
- February 2, 2023Passed the Senate
- April 27, 2023Royal assent
Our coverage: all censorship stories · Status checked July 20, 2026