Quebec targets streaming giants with new bill on French-language content

Les logos des services de streaming Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus et Sling TV sont représentés sur une télécommande le 13 août 2020.

Quebec will now be able to impose minimum French-language content thresholds on major digital platforms such as Netflix and Spotify.

MNAs unanimously adopted Bill 109 on Thursday, titled An Act affirming Québec cultural sovereignty and enacting the Act respecting the discoverability of French-language cultural content.

When he tabled the legislation in May, Culture Minister Mathieu Lacombe said he observed that “the more digital technology advances, the more our culture recedes.”

According to Lacombe, 92 per cent of young people have difficulty finding French-language cultural content available on platforms.

In addition, of the 10,000 most-streamed songs in Quebec in 2023, only 8.5 per cent were French-language titles.

The new law first enshrines in Quebec’s Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms the right to discoverability and the right to access French-language cultural content.

Discoverability refers to content’s online availability and its ability to be found among a vast array of other offerings.

The government will be able, by regulation within 18 months, to set the amount or proportion of French-language content that digital platforms must provide.

Fines of up to $15,000 per day are planned for non-compliance.

For example, the European Union requires certain platforms to offer 30 per cent European content, but Lacombe has not yet set a quota for Quebec.

If a company is unable to comply, it may reach an agreement with the government to determine “substitute measures” allowing it to be exempted from certain obligations.

Those substitute measures would make it possible to “achieve the objectives of the law in a different but equivalent way,” Lacombe said in May.

“This is not an open door to avoiding obligations,” he added.

Overall, Lacombe said the framework is “flexible,” able to “adapt over time” and “keep pace with technological change.”

The law also provides for the creation of a Discoverability Bureau within the Culture Department to oversee enforcement of the law, regulations and agreements.

A report will be published every three years.

Bill 109 follows the release in January 2024 of an advisory committee report titled Quebec’s cultural sovereignty in the digital age.

By Caroline Plante

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 11, 2025.