logo
Netflix, Spotify, Amazon, Apple and others to fight against Canada's Bill C-11 that they see as 'Streaming/Hidden Tax': What makes the court fight important

Netflix, Spotify, Amazon, Apple and others to fight against Canada's Bill C-11 that they see as 'Streaming/Hidden Tax': What makes the court fight important

Time of India2 days ago

On Monday, June 9, 2025, tech and streaming giants Netflix, Spotify, Apple, and Amazon will appear before Canada's Federal Court of Appeal to challenge the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's (CRTC) regulations under the
Online Streaming Act
(Bill C-11).
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
Passed in April 2023, the law mandates that streaming services earning over $25 million annually in Canada contribute 5% of their Canadian revenues to support Canadian content, including Indigenous, francophone, and local independent news programming. The CRTC estimates this will generate approximately $200 million annually to bolster Canada's cultural and media sectors. However, the legal showdown has ignited a broader debate about fairness, cultural identity, and the future of digital regulation.
Spotify and others calls it Hidden Tax
The challengers -- Apple, Amazon, Spotify, and the Motion Picture Association–Canada (representing Netflix, Disney, Paramount, and others) -- argue that the CRTC's rules overstep its authority under Canada's Broadcasting Act. Spotify has labeled the 5% contribution a 'hidden tax,' asserting it unfairly burdens foreign streaming platforms. Amazon contends that the regulations discriminate by imposing stricter requirements on international services compared to Canadian media companies, which face different obligations.
Apple has called the levy 'premature and inequitable,' noting that streamers are required to contribute five times more than traditional radio broadcasters while being denied access to the very funds they support.
The Motion Picture Association–Canada has taken particular issue with a 1.5% contribution to a local news fund, arguing that streaming platforms do not produce news, hold no news licenses, and cannot access the funds they are mandated to support.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
'This is a policy mismatch,' said a spokesperson for the association. 'Streamers are being asked to subsidize a sector they don't operate in, without any reciprocal benefit.'
Netflix, Spotify and others have created funding crisis, claims traditional Canadian media
On the other side, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) argues that traditional media outlets have long shouldered the responsibility of funding Canadian content while global streaming platforms have operated without similar obligations.
The CAB warns that the rise of streaming services has exacerbated a funding crisis for local news and independent media, with many outlets struggling to survive in an increasingly digital landscape.
The debate extends beyond the courtroom, touching on questions of cultural identity and economic fairness. However, critics warn of unintended consequences. Some analysts have cautioned that the 5% levy could lead to higher subscription costs for consumers or prompt streaming services to exit the Canadian market entirely.
He pointed to Spotify's recent withdrawal from France after similar regulations were imposed as a potential precedent.
What makes the court's decision important
The Federal Court of Appeal is expected to deliver its ruling by late summer 2025. The decision could reshape the regulatory landscape for digital platforms in Canada, determining whether the CRTC's rules are upheld, modified, or struck down. A ruling in favor of the streamers could weaken the Online Streaming Act's framework, potentially jeopardling calls for legislative amendments.
Conversely, upholding the CRTC's authority could embolden other countries to adopt similar measures, intensifying global tensions between tech giants and regulators.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Apple unveils iOS redesign amid AI delays, investor worries, trade woes
Apple unveils iOS redesign amid AI delays, investor worries, trade woes

Business Standard

time3 hours ago

  • Business Standard

Apple unveils iOS redesign amid AI delays, investor worries, trade woes

After stumbling out of the starting gate in Big Tech's pivotal race to capitalise on artificial intelligence, Apple tried to regain its footing Monday during an annual developers conference that focused mostly on incremental advances and cosmetic changes in its technology. The presummer rite, which attracted thousands of developers from nearly 60 countries to Apple's Silicon Valley headquarters, subdued compared with the feverish anticipation that surrounded the event in the last two years. Apple highlighted plans for more AI tools designed to simplify people's lives and make its products even more intuitive. It also provided an early glimpse at the biggest redesign of its iPhone software in a decade. In doing so, Apple executives refrained from issuing bold promises of breakthroughs that punctuated recent conferences, prompting CFRA analyst Angelo Zino to deride the event as a 'dud' in a research note. More AI, but what about Siri? In 2023, Apple unveiled a mixed-reality headset that has been little more than a niche product, and last year WWDC trumpeted its first major foray into the AI craze with an array of new features highlighted by the promise of a smarter and more versatile version of its virtual assistant, Siri — a goal that has yet to be realised. 'This work needed more time to reach our high-quality bar,' Craig Federighi, Apple's top software executive, said Monday at the outset of the conference. The company didn't provide a precise timetable for when Siri's AI upgrade will be finished but indicated it won't happen until next year at the earliest. "The silence surrounding Siri was deafening," said Forrester Research analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee said. 'No amount of text corrections or cute emojis can fill the yawning void of an intuitive, interactive AI experience that we know Siri will be capable of when ready. We just don't know when that will happen. The end of the Siri runway is coming up fast, and Apple needs to lift off.' Is Apple, with its 'liquid glass,' still a trendsetter? The showcase unfolded amid nagging questions about whether Apple has los t some of the mystique and innovative drive that has made it a tech trendsetter during its nearly 50-year history. Instead of making a big splash as it did with the Vision Pro headset and its AI suite, Apple took a mostly low-key approach that emphasised its effort to spruce up the look of its software with a new design called 'Liquid Glass" while also unveiling a new hub for its video games and new features like a 'Workout Buddy' to help manage physical fitness. Apple executives promised to make its software more compatible with the increasingly sophisticated computer chips that have been powering its products while also making it easier to toggle between the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. 'Our product experience has become even more seamless and enjoyable,' Apple CEO Tim Cook told the crowd as the 90-minute showcase wrapped up. IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo said Apple seemed to be largely using Monday's conference to demonstrate the company still has a blueprint for success in AI, even if it's going to take longer to realise the vision that was presented a year ago. 'This year's event was not about disruptive innovation, but rather careful calibration, platform refinement and developer enablement —positioning itself for future moves rather than unveiling game-changing technologies,' Jeronimo said. Apple's next operating system will be iOS 26 Besides redesigning its software. Apple will switch to a method that automakers have used to telegraph their latest car models by linking them to the year after they first arrive at dealerships. That means the next version of the iPhone operating system due out this autumn will be known as iOS 26 instead of iOS 19 — as it would be under the previous naming approach that has been used since the device's 2007 debut. The iOS 26 upgrade is expected to be released in September around the same time Apple traditionally rolls out the next iPhone models. Playing catchup in AI Apple opened the proceedings with a short video clip featuring Federighi speeding around a track in a Formula 1 race car. Although it was meant to promote the June 27 release of the Apple film, 'F1' starring Brad Pitt, the segment could also be viewed as an unintentional analogy to the company's attempt to catch up to the rest of the pack in AI technology. While some of the new AI tricks compatible with the latest iPhones began rolling out late last year as part of free software updates, the delays in a souped-up Siri became so glaring that the chastened company stopped promoting it in its marketing campaigns earlier this year. While Apple has been struggling to make AI that meets its standards, the gap separating it from other tech powerhouses is widening. Google keeps packing more AI into its Pixel smartphone lineup while introducing more of the technology into its search engine to dramatically change the way it works. Samsung, Apple's biggest smartphone rival, is also leaning heavily into AI. Meanwhile, ChatGPT recently struck a deal that will bring former Apple design guru Jony Ive into the fold to work on a new device expected to compete against the iPhone. Regulatory and trade challenges Besides grappling with innovation challenges, Apple also faces regulatory threats that could siphon away billions of dollars in revenue that help finance its research and development. A federal judge is currently weighing whether proposed countermeasures to Google's illegal monopoly in search should include a ban on long-running deals worth USD 20 billion annually to Apple while another federal judge recently banned the company from collecting commissions on in-app transactions processed outside its once-exclusive payment system. On top of all that, Apple has been caught in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump's trade war with China, a key manufacturing hub for the Cupertino, California, company. Cook successfully persuaded Trump to exempt the iPhone from tariffs during the president's first administration, but he has had less success during Trump's second term, which seems more determined to prod Apple to make its products in the US. The multidimensional gauntlet facing Apple is spooking investors, causing the company's stock price to plunge by 20 per cent so far this year — a decline that has erased about USD 750 billion in shareholder wealth. After beginning the year as the most valuable company in the world, Apple now ranks third behind longtime rival Microsoft, another AI leader, and AI chipmaker Nvidia. Apple's shares closed down by more than 1 per cent on Monday — an early indication the company's latest announcements didn't inspire investors.

Watch this gripping new America show
Watch this gripping new America show

Economic Times

time4 hours ago

  • Economic Times

Watch this gripping new America show

Almost all of what we know as 'America' comes from media - movies, shows, news, pop culture, etc - and our visitations to that country. This idea and experience of America has been curated for decades, making it the alluring byword for not just 'land of milk and honey' prosperity but also 'land of the free' democracy. So, when gashes on the canvas of this pretty picture appear - as they have over the last few days, with America's president sending almost 5,000 military personnel to LA to quell protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids there - we sit up and watch a different American show. The protests, clampdowns and demagoguery are more 'West-South Asian' to our eyes, with lathi-charges replaced by baton blows. This picture sits odd with our Netflix-CNBC-Google diet. With his gung-ho Mar-a-Lago non-passive-aggressive policy actions, Trump 2.0 is bringing to the surface - and to our screens - an America that has been lying beyond suburban white picket fences and Napa Valley that we are more directly or indirectly familiar with. We have seen such ruptures before: 1992 LA race riots, 2020 nationwide riots following (race-related) police brutality, 2021 storming of US Capitol.... But in the larger scheme of things, these were 'incidents' of 'civil unrest'. America under Trump 2.0 seems to be painting a different mural, where the Wall St-Hollywood-Silicon Valley complex of Big Mac-Big FX-Big Tech is colliding with a seedier, entropic landscape. California governor Gavin Newsom and Donald Trump engaged in what has 'civil war' spray-painted all over it, seems like an opening chapter of something longer-lasting. What we could be witnessing is a new exaggerated image of America joining an older exaggerated image of America.

Did Apple fire Jon Yongfook, designer behind Liquid Glass UI? Here's the truth behind viral claim
Did Apple fire Jon Yongfook, designer behind Liquid Glass UI? Here's the truth behind viral claim

Hindustan Times

time4 hours ago

  • Hindustan Times

Did Apple fire Jon Yongfook, designer behind Liquid Glass UI? Here's the truth behind viral claim

Claims about Apple firing a Jon Yongfook, allegedly the lead designer of the Liquid Glass UI unveiled at WWDC 2025, surfaced on social media on Monday. Yongfook, an influencer on social media, posted about being fired. However, now several social media users are saying that Yongfook never worked with Apple. 'I was fired by Apple today. Me and my design team have spent the last 18 months tirelessly testing different levels of gaussian blur on backgrounds when foreground elements are in focus. If you are looking for experts in the blur, glass liquid, grass or fur UI space, lmk,' Yongfook said on X, platform formerly known as Twitter. Read More: Russia fines Apple for violating 'LGBT propaganda' law, TASS reports His followers were quick to note that Yongfook never worked at Apple, and his tweet seemed satirical. 'Media has picked up this tweet and reported that Apple has fired their lead designer Jon Yong Fook for Liquid Glass design. Jon is an entrepreneur that runs SaaS products, and did not work at Apple's design. It's their in his bio Media did not even bother to check his bio...' one person tweeted. Yongfook is a serial entrepreneur, not a documented Apple employee. He founded Bannerbear, a SaaS for automated image generation, and previously worked at Aviva. His website and LinkedIn focus on startups, with no mention of Apple. Read More: 'Steve Jobs would have fired everyone': Apple's Liquid Glass design triggers online backlash 'Senior Digital leader with over 15 years of global technology and business experience at both multinational organizations and startups. Seasoned entrepreneur and technology innovator with two successful exits. Experience in industries such as Financial Services, Ecommerce and Consumer Internet. Working experience in markets including Japan, China, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore,' his bio on LinkedIn states. Apple unveiled Liquid Glass, a translucent, dynamic UI for iOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, and other platforms, led by Craig Federighi and Alan Dye. It features Gaussian blur, rounded controls, and adaptive navigation. Apple's Human Interface Design team, under Dye, developed Liquid Glass, with no mention of Yongfook.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store