Scott says platforms may be asked to ‘manipulate’ algorithms for Canadian discoverability

The CRTC chair has said that social media platforms may have to change their algorithms to promote Canadian content online if the Online Streaming Act passes, despite there being a clause in the bill that states the commission shall not make an order that would require the use of a specific computer algorithm or source code. Ian Scott made the remarks Wednesday night in an appearance before the Senate’s Transport and Communications committee. The committee is studying the Online Streaming Act, Bill C-11, after it passed third reading in the House of Commons earlier this week. According to Scott, the commission will “focus on outcomes” and “incentives” instead of issuing orders to meet discoverability requirements. “So you quite properly put it as saying that ‘the desired outcome is to ensure Canadians could find Canadian music or Canadian stories.’ And I think there will be a number of ways that the industry can do it,” he said. Scott said that because the CRTC, under the act, cannot make changes to a platform's algorithms it can instead ask a platform to change its algorithms to achieve the desired outcome. “Instead we will say ‘this is the outcome we want – we want Canadians to find Canadian music. How best to do it? How will you do it? I don't want to manipulate your algorithm. I want you to manipulate it to produce a particular outcome,’” he told senators. Stakeholders opposed to algorithmic manipulation to achieve discoverability requirements have argued that it would be censorship to “hide” what an individual truly wants to watch while others have argued that the current model amounts to censorship because there is no transparency as to how algorithms are constructed. Scott did note that there are a “variety of mechanisms” to pursue discoverability requirements such as advertising and awareness campaigns and said that he would not commit to just one until the commission held a public hearing into the matter once the bill reaches Royal Assent. Senators also sought clarification on what is scoped in and what is scoped out when it comes to user-generated content after two sections of the bill caused confusion among stakeholders who called the provision “the exception to the exception.” One section of the bill, 4.1, states that a person who uses social media services to upload programs for transmission is not considered a broadcast undertaking, while Section 4.2 states that a program may be subject to regulation if it “directly or indirectly generates revenues.” Individuals who upload content on social media cannot be put before the CRTC or subject to financial requirements “no matter how much money they may earn” on platforms like Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube or TikTok, under the Online Streaming Act, according to the associate assistant deputy minister of cultural affairs at Canadian Heritage Thomas Owen Ripley. Ripley said that individuals being subject to financial contribution requirements “cannot happen under the bill” because Section 2.1 of the bill “clarifies individuals who use social media are not considered broadcasters.” Ripley said that it is services like YouTube which “may” have to financially contribute based on the content uploaded onto the service, not the individual. “The challenge that we have when it comes to a service like YouTube, is that a record label uploading songs to YouTube is considered a user, an artist uploading songs to YouTube is considered a user, a digital first creator – which we've heard a lot about – uploading content to YouTube is is considered a user, and you or I, when we put something on YouTube, is considered a user,” he told senators. “So the challenge that we have is that YouTube has a very powerful business model, but it's a business model that's used in a variety of different ways.” Ripley said that 50 per cent of the content on YouTube is commercial content – split evenly between music and other content from media companies like the CBC/Radio-Canada – and the other 50 per cent is “organic” content created by individuals. He said the three factors under Section 4.2 – whether a program generates revenues; whether it’s assigned a unique identifier; and whether it can be found on another platform – are designed to ensure everyday users are not subject to the bill and instead that YouTube will have to pay for its commercial content similar to companies like Amazon Inc.’s Amazon Prime and Spotify AB. He added that the CRTC will have to make the regulations to determine “quite clearly the corpus’ of content that is to be included" rather than go through each "individual” piece of content. “Most of the content, – unless it's put on YouTube itself by YouTube – everything on YouTube, is user uploaded in one way or another. And so the challenge we have is ‘what are the indicators around that commercial content so that the CRTC has clear guidance about the kind of content that the government believes should be scoped in?’ And so that's what those three factors are designed to do,” he said. – Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

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Scott says platforms may be asked to ‘manipulate’ algorithms for Canadian discoverability

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