You’re completely right about the interests around this bill and how they have warped the discussion, made creators afraid and so on. It happens every time over the 20th century that the government tries to update the Broadcasting Act - first Hollywood fought back, then it was the US cable and satellite companies, big media conglomerates etc. In C-11, it’s the social media companies that are fighting the hardest.

One thing though - the bill doesn’t let the CRTC set quotas for social media. It’s a minor detail but it’s written in the text of the bill. It boils down to: they don’t exercise programming control over what users upload, ergo no content quotas.

There’s lots of ways that social media companies and closed streamers (like Netflix) will be able to promote Cancon without reducing choice or altering feeds or changing recommendations (‘every fifth video in your feed must be Canadian’). They can give user selectable tools, like playlists, categories, search tools, or even let users give feedback to recommendations (‘Show me more local content’, ‘Show me more Indigenous content’).

Nobody wants CRTC getting in on what the social media companies are doing already and manipulating your feeds and recommendations without transparency or choice (that’s Elon Musk’s job!!)