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Government

Quebec To Impose French-Language Quotas On Streaming Giants 91

Posted by BeauHD from the visibility-quotas dept.
Quebec Culture Minister Mathieu Lacombe has introduced Bill 109, which would require streaming platforms like Netflix and Spotify to feature and prioritize French-language content. CBC.ca reports: Bill 109 has been in the works for over a year. It marks the first time that Quebec would set a "visibility quota" for French-language content on major streaming platforms such as Netflix, Disney and Spotify. [...] The legislation, titled An Act to affirm the cultural sovereignty of Quebec and to enact the Act respecting the discoverability of French-language cultural content in the digital environment, would apply to every digital platform that offers a service for watching videos or listening to music and audiobooks online. Those include Canadian platforms such as Illico, Crave and Tou.tv. It would amend the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms to enshrine "the right to discoverability of and access to original French-language cultural content."

If the bill is adopted, streaming platforms and television manufacturers would be forced to present interfaces for screening online videos in French by default. Those interfaces would need to provide access to platforms that offer original French-language cultural content based on the government's pending criteria. Financial penalties would be imposed on companies that don't follow the rules. If the business models of some companies prevent them from keeping to the letter of the proposed law, companies would be allowed to enter into an agreement with the Quebec government to set out "substitute measures" to fulfil Bill 109 obligations differently. "We don't want to exempt them. We're telling them, 'let's negotiate substitute measures,'" Lacombe told reporters.

Quebec To Impose French-Language Quotas On Streaming Giants More | Reply

Quebec To Impose French-Language Quotas On Streaming Giants

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  • The Guard dies, it doesn't surrender!

    or, as it was originally uttered at Watrerloo:

    Merde!

  • Sacre Bleu!

  • Tribalism (Score:5, Informative)

    by backslashdot ( 95548 ) on Wednesday May 21, 2025 @07:41PM (#65394361)

    Tribalism will end humanity. Too many human brains are programmed to be tribalistic instead of humanist. It's not going to turn out well.

    • Yes, you are one of the truly enlightened few who fully grasp the nuances of human organization. I assume your framework of thought is fully coherent with not a trace of contradiction. I wouldn't expect anything less from someone who, with such well formed disdain, throws around important sounding words like 'tribalism'. Applause are warranted.

    • Which is a strange way of saying "F--- you Frenchies, adopt *MY* culture!"

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by KGIII ( 973947 )

      I don't want to out anyone, and my username is at least fairly consistent across sites (though there are all sorts of people using this moniker and are not me), but I fairly recently had an online conversation with a gentleman. I was quite surprised, taken aback even...

      They said that they did not like Ubuntu (it was a Linux-related site) because of Ubuntu's "humanist" traits.

      As far as I can tell, they're a bit religious but not like into 'racial superiority' types of things. They seem to be fine with me, an

      • I don't know who to think is the most naive in this scenario. Whatever "humanist" qualities that perhaps once came along with Ubuntu, I do find it hard to imagine anyone taking that seriously today. More like what it is would be "Ubuntu, the Microsoftish of Linuxes". We value lock-in. Subscriptions are great too. Who's buying "brotherly love" from a software company anymore? ha ha, very funny...
    • McLuhan said the inter... electronic media re-tribalizes us. That's the Global Village idea ... so ahead of his time... and heeere we are... but it seemed to be much less distinct and somehow it didn't seem threatening, It was just concepts. But a whole lot of the negative baggage of tribalism came along for the ride too, how could we really be surprised...

    • Everyone is tribalistic. It's just that some people's tribes include more of the world than orders.

    • Once civilisation started, we started helping each other survive on an industrial scale. People who would normally fail to reproduce now manage to. So survival of the fittest lost its cutting edge. So we've hardly evolved since pre-civilisation. Hence our biological instincts are oriented towards living in small isolated tribes. And as a culture we're collapsing back to that pre-civilisation psychology. In previous generations, hardship motivated us to work together, and religion played a role to. We've got

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      I'm undecided on this. On the one hand there doesn't seem to be much benefit to children to teach them Welsh, as we do in the UK. It's only used by a relatively small population, so has little value as a qualification, and is part of a family of little used languages so don't help much with travel.

      On the other hand, being bilingual does have advantages in terms of understanding your primary language better, and making it easier to leader a 3rd language. I'm not sure Welsh is the ideal 2nd language for this,

  • sigh (Score:5, Interesting)

    by GrahamJ ( 241784 ) on Wednesday May 21, 2025 @07:44PM (#65394365)

    I would like to let the rest of the world know that most of Canada thinks this is as ridiculous as you do.

    • Give the people what they want. Quebec residents elect these leaders. Bon Chance. Build a wall and make them pay for it. Interesting tactic. They can watch French hockey instead of NHL and World Championships. Rest of Canada can enjoy their excellent talent in NHL.

    • Re:sigh (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MightyMartian ( 840721 ) on Wednesday May 21, 2025 @08:35PM (#65394495) Journal

      Do we? I think Quebec has every right to protect its linguistic heritage, as do many linguistic and cultural minorities around the world.

      Oh, and I'm a Canadian and not from Quebec.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by MeNeXT ( 200840 )

        It's ironic how a European language that is one of the most prolific in the world is a heritage but the native languages of the area are left to die while the native speakers are being forced to assimilate.

        This is just more racism with a pretext to legalize. There are even laws in Quebec and Canada defining this racial discrimination and making it illegal but have a clause that it's not discrimination if the government says so.

        Just hypocritical.

        I'm human and find that the more I experience the more I reali

        • but the native languages of the area are left to die

          Not sure what your point is. The government of Quebec serves the people of Quebec, not the natives which came before it. The official language is French. It's not hypocritical to ask companies to use the official language.

          Culture and heritage is not something that is forced on the people. It's created by the people.

          Yes a collective group of people, and those collectives can make decisions on how to preserve that culture, such as electing a government that mandates that language is protected.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by MeNeXT ( 200840 )

            The official language became French by virtue of restricting laws that protect individual rights provincially and federally.

            Yes a collective group of people, and those collectives can make decisions on how to preserve that culture, such as electing a government that mandates that language is protected.

            A government can't mandate culture. It's created by the people. Each new generation creates it's culture. That's why western culture is so dominant. It allows new additions and changes with the times as the new generations express themselves. We don't go to clubs to square dance. The music of my youth is not the music of today. This has been going on in Quebec since the mid 70's and ye

      • Atleast if the translations/subtitles/alternate audio are accurate, it would be ok. But thus far, when it comes to streaming services- they struggle to even get an English show to have correct ENGLISH subtitles... and from what i have personally observed from their English to alternate language stream, it isn't better. really trippy when you watch a show and the English version is one thing, the subtitles say something completely different and then the dubbed audio of the dialogue gets warped into a compl

      • Yes we do. You can protect your linguistic heritage without being a dick about it. I can speak both English and French but it is wrong for a government to try and regulate which of those I'm allowed to speak or listen to. All that does is make people avoid living in Quebec which is why Quebec's fraction of the Canadian population is decreasing over time.

        If you want to preserve your culture you have to make it something people want to take part in - and there is a lot in Quebec culture that attracts peopl

  • How about a simple setting instead? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by devslash0 ( 4203435 ) on Wednesday May 21, 2025 @07:45PM (#65394371)

    Preferred language. Simple dropdown. Job done. Let the user decide.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by johnnys ( 592333 )

      You're not wrong, but you misunderstand the reality on the ground in Canada. We do NOT have a first amendment (or a second amendment for that matter) and the government in Quebec is quite willing to censor, abuse free speech, and impose draconian restrictions to prevent access to ANYTHING in English in their Perfect French Utopia. That government is just Anglo-haters who just want to exterminate any remaining English in their "nation". (Is this fascism? You decide!)

      So how to fix this? Easy! Netflix, Disney,

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jonwil ( 467024 )

        Do the people who actually live there support the "we must preserve French at all costs" mentality that the governments (at multiple levels) seem to have?

      • Canada and Quebec are not the United States, but do have free speech. And no, English is not "censored" in Quebec.

        So how to fix this? Easy! Netflix, Disney, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and everyone else just have to block all streaming access to Quebec. (They can still bill Quebec credit cards, however!) Anyone in Quebec who wants to defy their micro-controlling government should just use a VPN. Then, everyone is happy.

        So, if the streaming sites simply block all access from Quebec IP addresses, that would meet the proposed legal requirements and costs the streaming services very little.

        That's your wet dream but is not going to happen. Why? Because

        1. it would cost streaming services much more than complying to this law.
        2. If there is any real blocker in the law (I haven't seen any so far but the law just got announced), the law will likely endup being amended.

        It's not as if the content in the streaming services had to change. They only need to enhance "visilibity" of French con

    • You can't have that in Quebec: the user might not pick French!

    • Preferred language. Simple dropdown. Job done. Let the user decide.

      That doesn't solve the licensing issue. The point is that they are demanding that Netflix have content to suit that preferred option. It doesn't help to say I want to hear French (why anyone would want to do that is beyond me, weird language) if the result is that only one or two movies show up.

      The user can't decide what Netflix makes available. Geoblocking is the root cause of this, and it is an example of our species at its worst and most self centered.

  • Quebec radicalism is in the best interest of the ruling Liberal Party of Canada, because that allows Liberals to capture non-radical portion of Quebec population and hold Liberal seats.

  • Service not available (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Local ID10T ( 790134 ) <ID10T.L.USER@gmail.com> on Wednesday May 21, 2025 @07:48PM (#65394377) Homepage

    "Erreur : Le service n'est pas disponible dans votre region (Quebec)."

    Quebec is not a large market. It may not be worth the effort to service this requirement.

    On the other hand... France has French language requirements. It may be trivial to surface French language materiel from France for Quebec users -at least for providers that already operate in France.

    • "Erreur : Le service n'est pas disponible dans votre region (Quebec)."

      Quebec is not a large market. It may not be worth the effort to service this requirement.

      On the contrary. They don't have to change any content. They only have to make a custom page for Quebec (their algorithms are already location-based anyways as they do not put forward the same content in all countries). I am betting that Netflix and Spotify will remain in Quebec.

      On the other hand... France has French language requirements. It may be trivial to surface French language materiel from France for Quebec users -at least for providers that already operate in France.

      They already offer content in French, from France, Quebec and elsewhere. That's not going to change and that's not what the law is about. But yes, that's one of the reasons why streaming services are not going anywhere. It's easy to

  • Whack (Score:2)

    by skogs ( 628589 )

    I'm curious if the politicians that want to pass this have ever watched a french film themselves. Pretty positive every time I (english speaker) watch a foreign film with subtitles, I spend the next several months getting things suggested to me like "Korean Dark Romance Violent Revenge Films".
    I've discovered some quite excellent items over the years ... never based on "french" or "german" or "russian" .... there is more to categorize than that...and I'm betting the politicians have watched nothing but amer

    • I'm curious if the politicians that want to pass this have ever watched a french film themselves.

      Of course they have. Like everybody in Quebec. Especially if by French you mean French-language. Quebec movies (almost all of which are in French) were 10-12% (depending on source) of movie theater ticket sales in Quebec in 2023. Plus a couple percent for French.
      I don't think I know anyone in Quebec who never saw a movie in French. Also while I am not counting those, most English movies are dubbed in French.

      Pretty positive every time I (english speaker) watch a foreign film with subtitles, I spend the next several months getting things suggested to me like "Korean Dark Romance Violent Revenge Films".

      I watch "foreign films" (I guess you mean non-English language) from time to time and don't get this

  • Maybe leave Quebec alone. I'd say build a wall around them, but the quebecois would probably beat us to the punch.... /sarc

  • Reality check. (Score:3)

    by GotNoRice ( 7207988 ) on Wednesday May 21, 2025 @08:19PM (#65394461)
    Imagine being a global streaming company and being expected to tailor your content for one Province that has an entire population equivalent to that of one medium-sized American city.

    • They are free to expand the service to all of Canada, or perhaps other French-speaking countries as well. These global companies are very good at profiling. They can offer ads or special content only to people of an age group, gender or city. It's very easy to do for a province.
      Also streaming services already operate in countries smaller than Quebec. Sometimes with their own currency and content rules. The same content is not offered in Canadian and US Netflix, for example.

      • Let me gaze into my very short term crystal ball and ... I see AI applied to tailoring English and French from France content into content that just barely meets whatever minimal barriers the Quebecois put up. There are advertising opportunities that can be mined. Relationships matter, and Google wants to own all of them. Here let us HELP you set that up using all-google-technology. It won't hurt a bit when we hold you for ransom. That might not be for years.

    • I imaging being a streaming company and saying "Fuck you 9M people living in Quebec" and discontinuing offering my products and services in that area.

    • Imagine being a global streaming company and being expected to tailor your content for one Province that has an entire population equivalent to that of one medium-sized American city.

      France has a population of 68 million people, Quebec has a population of 9 million, and French language content is one of the most prolific in the western world. It's not like this content is somehow strange, unique or unavailable, and France already has similar requirements which were easily met.

      I applaud even one single person criticising the geoblocking and general unavailability of content.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Nugoo ( 1794744 )
      There are zero US cities [wikipedia.org] with a population as high as Quebec's [wikipedia.org]. If you go by metro areas, there are 3 [wikipedia.org]. If you go by combined statistical area, there are 6 [wikipedia.org]. If Quebec were a US state, it would have about the 12th highest population of states.

  • Show'em what real French be.

    • You know that French was literally **banned** in Louisiana by a constitutional amendment until 1974, right? Children caught speaking French even faced corporal punishment in schools. So rag about "whiney Frenchies" all you want, but attempts to stamp out French language and culture in North America were very much real until very recently. The French explored most of North America and set up settlements across the continent by the early 1700s, and many places still carry anglicized French names. However, the

  • Culture (Score:3, Insightful)

    by registrations_suck ( 1075251 ) on Wednesday May 21, 2025 @09:18PM (#65394563)

    You know your culture sucks when you have to prop it up with force of law.

    • To be clear you're saying that about a law specifically targeting a company from a *foreign* culture. It's not about culture sucking. It's about an American company pushing large American culture locally.

      Sidenote: My favourite cable channel growing up was "World Movies". It just showed how much of a sheltered little shit we can turn into cranking out the same garbage over and over again if we all adopt whatever culture is *most popular* (not better, culture isn't about good or bad, it's about size).

      I am gla

  • Is this based on user numbers or amount of media? (Score:3)

    by SeaFox ( 739806 ) on Wednesday May 21, 2025 @09:18PM (#65394565)

    Curious how this works for judging a streaming provider for having to adhere to this legislation. Like, what about more niche streaming services that are serving specialized content. Can't demand Rakuten's Viki [viki.com] or TelevisaUnivision's Vix [vix.com] to prioritize languages that don't follow their business.

    • The French language film industry is the second most prolific in the western world. France has had this law on the books a long time and Netflix had no problem meeting their requirements.

      Funny you mention Rakuten Viki, because that's not a streaming service. It's a specific sub channel from the service. Rakuten TV itself is a streaming provider which among other countries is a streaming provider in France meeting the French language requirements. They have a lot of French content to make available.

      Never hea

  • Now go away (Score:3)

    by zawarski ( 1381571 ) on Wednesday May 21, 2025 @09:29PM (#65394587)
    Or I shall taunt you a second time.
  • Like the French Canada, it's the best Canada, in ze land!
  • Très fier de la nation québécoise qui réaffirme son avenir. La richesse de son patrimoine est légitime.

  • In Quebec 95%+ speak French because if you don't you are excluded from society, business, everything
    Because everything is conducted only in French

    In Wales you are taught Welsh at School, everything defaults to Welsh, some Schools teach only in Welsh etc. but you can easily get by without speaking Welsh .... and only 17.5 % of the population speak Welsh at all

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