In early February, TikTok Canada and a new advocacy group quietly held a presentation for digital creators and online influencers, telling them that the Online Streaming Act, tabled by the federal government just one week earlier, could harm their international success and earnings potential.

The presenters encouraged digital creators to “make [their] voice heard” on the legislation, which would require some tech platforms to make Canadian content discoverable and contribute to cultural funding in the country.

One government source characterized the lobbying efforts as tantamount to a foreign tech company partnering with a Canadian organization to misrepresent the government’s policy positions and goals.

“Disappointed is an understatement,” they said.

Digital First Canada executive director Scott Benzie told attendees in the Feb. 9 presentation that creators risked having their content de-prioritized abroad if TikTok was required to manipulate its algorithm to promote Canadian content to domestic users to comply with the Online Streaming Act. The presentation was hosted by TikTok’s head of Canada public policy, Steve de Eyre, and advertised by the company to its mailing list.

The act, currently being debated in Parliament, is the federal heritage ministry’s second attempt at giving the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) the ability to subject some online tech platforms such as Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, YouTube and Spotify to similar Canadian content discoverability rules as broadcast and radio outlets. Tech companies subject to the regulation would also be required to contribute to funding Canadian content.

Slides from the presentation, obtained by BetaKit, drew comparisons between digital creators’ commercial success and cultural relevance to a global audience and “how [policymakers] see us.” They claimed policymakers considered creators not professional or culturally valuable, stealing attention from ‘real’ artists and as the creators of “cat videos,” the latter a reference to comments from Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez. The presentation also claims that with digital creators’ work not qualifying as ‘Canadian content’ under existing rules, getting that work certified would be overly cumbersome.