Name: Streaming giants urge Quebec against French-language quotas
Uploaded: 2025-11-16T22:46:30.542Z
Duration: 2 min
Description: Spotify and Apple are joining other streaming giants Netflix and YouTube to ask the Quebec government to rethink its proposed legislation for French-language quotas and other requirements. A National Assembly committee is studying the bill, which says French content is hard to find on the platforms.

Spotify and Apple are joining other streaming giants Netflix and YouTube to ask the Quebec government to rethink its proposed legislation for French-language quotas and other requirements. A National Assembly committee is studying the bill, which says French content is hard to find on the platforms.

Quebec

Streaming giants such as Netflix and Spotify have voiced strong concerns regarding a proposed Quebec bill that would mandate French-language quotas and require digital platforms to default their interfaces to French within the province. The bill, currently under review at the National Assembly, is intended to promote Quebec's cultural sovereignty and improve access to Francophone content online.

While Quebec officials argue that the measure is necessary to protect the French language and support local culture, streaming platforms claim they already offer French content and warn the bill could be counterproductive. Critics, including legal experts and music streaming services, caution that the legislation may reduce consumer choice, prompt platforms to withdraw from Quebec, or lead to less available content. Quebec artists, however, see the bill as a crucial step toward increasing visibility for Francophone creators.

Streaming giants urge Quebec against French-language quotas

Platforms like Netflix and Spotify say they have serious concerns about Quebec's digital content bill. The goal of this bill... The province says it's meant to affirm Quebec's cultural sovereignty and improve access to French-language cultural content online. Right now it's not very easy for them to find francophone content on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus. The bill, being studied at the National Assembly, would make platform interfaces default to French in Quebec and establish a quota for French-language content. Platforms have kind of broken the traditional media ecosystem and now we need to think of a new ecosystem that will protect the French language and help Quebec culture thrive. But the platforms say they do offer content in French and say the bill is counterproductive and unrealistic. Music streaming sites say it would curtail consumers' choices and bring unintended consequences. If a consumer starts to go to unlicensed places to get access to the music that they want to listen to I think, you know, as I say, going back to the Napster days you can see that consumers will follow a path, right, to get to what they want to listen to. This law professor says the bill could limit what Quebecers can access. You could have certain platforms look at the costs of compliance here and say that it's just not worth the trouble. Alternatively, the price will be paid by Quebec subscribers who will find that their services are inferior services because there will be content removed that is available elsewhere. It's actually the risk of losing our language. For Quebec artists, though, the bill is seen as a potential lifeline. There is a lack of visibility of Francophone content on streaming platforms and for us it would be extremely important for our artists and songwriters and composers to be seen. And she says that would be an important first step. Alison Northcott, CBC News, Montreal.

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