Elon Musk feud with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau explained
New regulations in Canada that require podcasters to register with the government are under attack by many including X owner Elon Musk.
On Sunday, 1 October, political commentator Glenn Greenwald posted a screenshot from a Canadian government website to X, highlighting changes to the country’s regulation of online streaming services and podcasts.
While Greenwald’s post said that the legal change applies to “all ‘online streaming services that offer podcasts, ’” the announcement states that only entities that operate in Candad and generate $10 million in revenue will be required to register by late November.
What are entities required to report?
The registration form, available for anyone to download, requires entities to report general information about their business (i.e., legal name, headquarters, contact information), as well as the type of service being offered (i.e., audiovisual or audio).
Elon Musk responds to legal change
Greenwald’s post was noticed by X owner, Elon Musk, who began a one-sided feud with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. One-sided because the Canadian leader has yet to respond to Musk’s attack, in which he called the new rules an attempt to “crush free speech.”
Prime Minister Trudeau avoids tit-for-tat with Musk
September was an eventful month for the Canadian leader, who may see his other priorities as more important than starting a tit-for-tat with Musk.
On 18 September, Prime Minister Trudeau accused the Indian government of carrying out an assassination of a Canadian national on Canadian soil. An investigation into the matter is underway.
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Additionally, later in the month, while hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a standing ovation was given to a 98-year-old Canadian-Ukrainian Nazi soldier. The embarrassing situation led to the eventual resignation of Anthony Rota, the Speaker of the Canadian parliament. Prime Minister Trudeau apologized for the incident, saying those present “regret deeply having stood and clapped, even though we did so unaware of the context.”
“It was a horrendous violation of the memory of the millions of people who died in the Holocaust, and was deeply, deeply painful for Jewish people,”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Members of the Polish government have stated that they are considering asking Canada for the extradition of the Nazi soldier Yaroslav Hunka for his participation in serving in the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS. Various commissions, carried out by both the Polish government and a state-funded Ukrainian university, have collected evidence that the 14th Division carried out war crimes for which there exists no statute of limitations under international law.