Online streaming giants YouTube and TikTok are asking Canadian senators to take a sober second look at an online streaming bill that they say would cause significant harm to Canadian digital creators.

TikTok executive Steve de Eyre said in a Senate committee meeting on Wednesday evening that the federal LiberalsB次元官网网址� Bill C-11 doesnB次元官网网址檛 just fail to protect digital creators from regulation, but makes them collateral damage.

He said the Senate should more explicitly exclude user-generated content from the bill, which was designed to modernize Canadian broadcasting legislation and bring online streaming platforms into the fold.

Senators should also consider rules around how Canadian content is identified, he said, saying much of the content that Canadians create on TikTok wouldnB次元官网网址檛 qualify as such.

The onus could end up on users to prove how Canadian they are, meaning that B次元官网网址渆stablished media voices and cultural voicesB次元官网网址� with more resources could end up at the front of the line, said de Eyre, who is the companyB次元官网网址檚 director of public policy and government affairs in Canada.

YouTube executive Jeanette Patell told senators that the bill gives far too much discretion to CanadaB次元官网网址檚 broadcasting regulators to make demands around user-generated content.

She said the provision that the regulator can consider whether someone has directly or indirectly generated revenue from the content would affect B次元官网网址渆ffectively everythingB次元官网网址� on the platform.

B次元官网网址淭his is a global precedent,B次元官网网址� said Patell, who is YouTubeB次元官网网址檚 head of government affairs and public policy.

She warned that if other countries follow suit, Canadian creators, for whom 90 per cent of YouTube views come from outside the country, will have a harder time getting noticed.

B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 nothing like this in the world for open platforms. It really puts the international audiences of creators at risk.B次元官网网址�

Patell also warned that the regulator could require changes to the companyB次元官网网址檚 algorithms, echoing concerns that music streaming giant Spotify raised during a hearing last week.

That fear is based on committee testimony from Ian Scott, the chairman of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

Scott told senators in June that the regulator could ask platforms such as YouTube to B次元官网网址渕anipulateB次元官网网址� their algorithms to produce particular outcomes.

At a meeting last week, SpotifyB次元官网网址檚 head of artist and label partnerships for Canada, Nathan Wiszniak, said that affecting the way the platform generates recommendations for individual listeners would go against its raison dB次元官网网址櫭猼re and could create negative feedback for the songs that are being recommended.

B次元官网网址淎sking services to repeatedly bias recommendations against listener preferences strikes at the core trust we have built with our customers,B次元官网网址� he said.

Some Quebec senators pushed back on the idea that requiring an algorithm to nudge users towards Canadian content is such a bad thing.

Sen. Julie Miville-Dech锚ne said that the bill requires companies to choose the means to make Canadian artists discoverable.

B次元官网网址淒o you have means other than an algorithm to promote Canadian content?B次元官网网址� she asked Patell in English. B次元官网网址淲hy are you afraid?B次元官网网址�

Sen. Ren茅 Cormier, for his part, noticed during his own use of YouTube that the algorithm was recommending anglophone music to listen to after Quebec artist Ariane Moffatt, whom he repeatedly name-dropped.

B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 trying to understand why you canB次元官网网址檛 continue with the same type of music that IB次元官网网址檓 already listening to,B次元官网网址� he said in French. B次元官网网址淲hy am I led elsewhere in the recommendations?B次元官网网址�

Patell said YouTube is about B次元官网网址淵ou,B次元官网网址� and that its users train the algorithm to serve their needs B次元官网网址� so she recommended that Cormier B次元官网网址渢eachB次元官网网址� the platform what heB次元官网网址檚 looking for. When Canadians come looking for Canadian content, she said, B次元官网网址渨e absolutely want to serve that to them.B次元官网网址�

Though de Eyre said that TikTok is B次元官网网址渄emocratizing discoverability,B次元官网网址� Bernadette Clement, a senator from Ontario, pointed out that B次元官网网址渋tB次元官网网址檚 not democratic if people donB次元官网网址檛 know how algorithms work.B次元官网网址�

Patell and de Eyre responded by saying that their companies are making their source code and raw data available to researchers.

The streaming companies are recommending specific tweaks to the language of the bill that they say would assuage their concerns.

In June, before ParliamentB次元官网网址檚 summer break, the House of Commons passed Bill C-11 with more than 150 amendments. The Senate decided not to rush its passage and instead to take a more thorough look this fall.

If senators decide to amend the bill, it would have to be sent back to the House of Commons for approval before it can become law.

B次元官网网址擬arie-Danielle Smith, The Canadian Press