OTTAWA: Canadian government is looking at how to regulate and tax internet giants such as Google, Facebook and Netflix, as it moves to improve protections for its cultural sector, an official said Wednesday. The government of Canada recognizes that large internet companies are acting outside regulatory frameworks and may be a threat to our culture,” Simon Ross, a spokesman for Heritage Minister Melanie Joly, told AFP.
It will therefore be necessary to update Canada’s 1991 Broadcasting Act to take into account the new digital landscape, he said.
Ottawa initially refused to apply a so-called “Netflix tax” on foreign-based internet companies offering services and selling online advertising in Canada, saying it didn’t want those costs passed on to Canadians.But that position provoked a backlash in the cultural sector that relies in part on government funding, and from Canadian broadcasters that must pay into the arts fund to support Canadian programming—calling it unfair competition.Canadian broadcasters also must fulfill a quota of Canadian content on air, which streaming services are not required to match.
