On Friday, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced it was planning to "modernize" broadcasting in the country as part of the Trudeau Liberals' Online Streaming Act. To comply with new regulations, online services that provide audio or video content and exceed $10 million in annual revenue will be required to register with the federal regulatory agency.

This would impact every industry giant, from Netflix and Spotify to Google, Meta and X (formerly Twitter).

The new requirements mean “various online undertakings that broadcast audio or audio-visual content that is intended to inform, enlighten or entertain must be registered with the Commission,” the National Post reported.

Rebel News boss Ezra Levant tore into the plan put forward by the CRTC over the weekend, writing a lengthy thread on X pointing to the flaws in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's latest brazen attempts to censor content online.

Starting off his analysis, Ezra pointed out how announcements made on Fridays are often the ones trying to be buried. And, while the bill was discussed as it moved through Parliament, the debate over regulating podcasts never truly reached the public as a voting issue. 

2. This shocking decision was not debated, let alone voted on, by Parliament. It’s a decree, like Castro would do. Trudeau used his hand-picked appointees at the CRTC — the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission — to announce this hijacking.

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) September 30, 2023

And while Ezra's proclamation of individual creators on platforms like YouTube being regulated may be a little ahead of the government's official announcement, it certainly would not be the first time the Trudeau Liberals have said one thing publicly while pursuing more extreme goals behind the scenes.

In 2019, for example, then-environment minister Catherine McKenna said carbon taxes would not exceed $50 per tonne; that price is now set to increase to $170 per tonne by 2030. Ditto for gun control, where the Liberals pledged not to ban hunting rifles before trying to do just that.

Ezra also mentioned how the CRTC was used as a tool to stunt the growth of Sun News, a right-of-centre alternative to the country's left-leaning broadcasters like CBC.

4. The CRTC is intensely political. It killed off the Sun News Network — dubbed “Fox News North” — in 2015. Sun News wanted the same regulatory treatment as the two left-wing all-news channels, and the CRTC denied it. https://t.co/86j4iF4fFc

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) September 30, 2023

The burdensome and vindictive policies of the CRTC, meanwhile, pushed Ezra to found Rebel News with a focus towards online content. The idea worked, and Rebel grew a bigger audience than Sun News ever had, even inspiring others to follow suit, True North and Western Standard.

With the media landscape evolving, the Trudeau government took action to bailout the Media Party — the Liberal regime cheerleaders in the mainstream media.

As Ezra shows, trust and viewership in legacy outlets is declining while support grows for independent outlets. For full analysis of our poll conducted in partnership with Leger, click here.

8. Despite sending billions of dollars to what Trudeau calls “trustworthy” media, fewer people than ever watch regime news. And it hasn’t helped working journalists — executives pocket big bonuses while reporters are laid off: https://t.co/t9UkTsZUtO

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) September 30, 2023

Perhaps most concerning, the legislation allows for the government to demand platforms like Facebook, Google and YouTube alter their algorithms to present certain content the feds deem necessary.

14. S. 9.1(1)(e) says: "The Commission may... make orders imposing conditions... including... the presentation of programs and programming services for selection by the public, including the showcasing and the discoverability of Canadian programs..."

That's a search algorithm.

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) September 30, 2023

Of course, platforms currently skew their algorithms in certain directions already, oftentimes censoring conservative viewpoints, particularly on issues relating to COVID-19 or the climate.

16. Trudeau has now given himself the power to alter the "discoverability" of Internet content. He already said he's going to decide which news is "trusted" and which isn't -- he said that in his very first media bail-out announcement: https://t.co/ac22wbOQwK

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) September 30, 2023

Could the government not only attempt to force companies to manipulate algorithms, but then regulate the media industry through a licensing body? Well, as Rebel News experienced, the framework already exists in the Qualified Canadian Journalism Organization (QCJO) licence.

18. Trudeau introduced a news license called a QCJO licence: Qualified Canadian Journalism Organization. Trudeau gave himself the power to give or deny that licence: https://t.co/SFu6mmfvQ7

Until now, that licence mainly meant you got tax relief. Now it means something else.

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) September 30, 2023

Despite former heritage minister Steven Guilbeault's fumbling, clumsy attempt to explain the issue during an interview, there was little pushback from the Media Party overall.

20. There was almost no pushback from the regime media, because they knew what it really meant — they’d get the licence, because Trudeau “trusts” them, but independent competitors would be shut down. It would ban their upstart competitors.

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) September 30, 2023

Rebel News, however, is fighting back against the QCJO. As Ezra notes, Rebel News is suing Trudeau over this licensing, something you can learn more about on this page.

22. Rebel News applied for a QCJO news licence and we were turned down. Laughably, Trudeau's bureaucrats claim less than 1% of what we publish is news. I'm not even sure how that's possible, but that was their excuse. We're suing them -- learn more here: https://t.co/tuVd2TaE5o

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) September 30, 2023

The Liberals don't plan to stop with just this bill, though. There was also Bill C-36, which is temporarily shelved.

25. Trudeau introduced another censorship bill, called C-36. It died on the order paper, but he says it will be back. It includes secret trials for Internet "hate", and punishments including house arrest, ankle monitors and even jail: https://t.co/7D3MoCpjKA

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 1, 2023

Worse yet, the proposed "Online Harms Act" which would grant the federal government extreme powers to shut down websites from existing in Canada. 

27. In this final bill, Trudeau proposes to give himself what his cabinet calls the "nuclear" option, namely the power to actually ban entire websites from existing in Canada -- like China does with its "Great Firewall". You can read more about it here: https://t.co/i2wtQmzMhk

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 1, 2023

But, as the Rebel News boss says — we won't stop fighting.

We'll continue pushing back against the Trudeau Liberals' censorship attempts, even if we have to lead the charge by ourselves. You can learn more about — or better yet, help support — our fight for freedom of speech and freedom of the press at StopTheCensorship.com.

33. But as long as we have breath in us we’ll fight for freedom.

Sign our petition at https://t.co/5FDONDeS32 to fight against Trudeau’s Internet plans. And if you can chip in a few bucks to help us fight Trudeau in court, please do. Thanks.

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) October 1, 2023

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This government shakedown and desperate attempt to keep the mainstream media afloat could have a range of repercussions for the over 70% of Canadians who receive their news online.

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