(Toronto) Google is suing the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), arguing that the “significant” revenue it earns from advertising on YouTube videos should not be taken into account when it is the regulatory fees it owes to the CRTC.
In a motion filed in the Federal Court of Canada on April 24, Google claims that this revenue comes from user-generated content. According to the company, this should be excluded from the fee calculation due to exemptions in the Broadcasting Act.
Google says in its filing that the federal government directed the CRTC not to impose regulatory requirements on online platforms such as YouTube “out of respect for creators’ content on social media.”
The tech giant says that after it submitted a form to the regulator outlining its royalty revenue – excluding its YouTube advertising revenue from the calculation – the regulator asked it in a March 25 email to include those amounts.
Google says it complied and refilled the form with the revenue initially subtracted, but maintains its position that those fees should be exempt from the total.
The company is asking the court to overturn the CRTC order, which it describes as “unreasonable,” and to declare its first form compliant with the regulations.