The federal Liberals’ law bringing YouTube and other streaming platforms under the broadcast regulator’s supervision doesn’t allow it to get directly into the guts of how each service decides what content to show, CRTC chair Ian Scott told senators examining Bill C-11. So the CRTC will tell streaming companies, “I don’t want to manipulate your algorithm, I want you to manipulate it to produce a particular outcome,” Scott testified. (The Logic)

Talking point: Scott said that approach is less prescriptive than what many European countries are considering. Critics of the bill, such as the University of Ottawa’s Michael Geist, call that a distinction without a difference, saying the regulator telling platforms what results their automated content-promotion tools are supposed to come up with is practically the same as monkeying with those tools itself. Bill C-11 passed a final vote in the House of Commons but could still be amended in the Senate and sent back to MPs.