According to the Smart Finance APP, the American streaming giant is requesting that the Canadian court revise Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's 5% new tax on its revenue in Canada to cancel the requirement for funding local news.
Motion Picture Association of Canada, which represents movie companies including Netflix, Paramount Universal, and Disney, hopes that the federal appeals court will cancel the new obligation of requiring foreign streaming platforms to donate to local independent news funds, which is part of the Online Streaming Act.
Although these companies do not oppose the 5% tax, and their revenue will also be used for other types of program production and Black and Indigenous creators in Canada, they oppose paying the 1.5% basic donation for Canadian news production.
In a statement on Thursday, the association's president Wendy Noss stated that this new requirement "is a discriminatory measure" and "contradicts the goal of establishing a modern, flexible framework that recognizes the nature of services provided by global streaming media".
This is the latest backlash from American companies against Trudeau's efforts to inject foreign company funds into Canada's media and journalism industry. Meta Platforms began blocking news on Facebook and Instagram in Canada last year to avoid paying fees under another law.
Last month, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission estimated that the new tax on foreign streaming companies would raise funding of CAD 0.2 billion (approximately USD 0.147 billion) annually for local news and other content production.
In an application submitted to the court on Tuesday, these companies claimed that the regulatory body's policy of "compelling foreign online companies to contribute to news production is unreasonable," and requiring them to provide funding for news programs is also "unreasonable," and stated that "given the nature of the services they provide, this requirement is neither appropriate nor fair".
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has not yet submitted a response to the court and has refused to comment on ongoing legal matters.
The office of Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge stated that local communication companies have supported a sustainable news ecology, while foreign streaming media companies have "made huge profits" in Canada without contributing to the local system.
The office stated in a statement: "As Canadians face more misinformation and disinformation, having access to trusted news reporting is critical. These reports hold those in power accountable and give voice to Canadians to ask tough questions."