Canada is to enhance its scrutiny of foreign investments in video games and other interactive media, seeking to block outside actors from manipulating public opinion in the country.
“Hostile state-sponsored or state-influenced actors may try to leverage foreign investments in the interactive digital media sector to spread disinformation and manipulate information,” Canadian Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Francois-Philippe Champagne said on Friday in a joint announcement with Canadian Minister of Heritage Pascale St-Onge.
Starting immediately, Ottawa is to increase scrutiny of investments “by entities owned or influenced by foreign states, particularly states that engage in activities that may pose a risk to Canada’s national security,” they said in the statement.
Photo: Reuters
Citing the Investment Canada Act, which gives the government the authority to review all foreign investments, the tougher stance applies to deals in interactive digital media, which might apply to video games, immersive technology like augmented and virtual reality, and other digital content with multiple active users, according to the statement published online.
National security factors might include the size of a product’s audience, whether it includes in-game chat logs, purchases and microphone or camera access, and prospective investors’ ties to foreign governments, the government said in the statements.
The government said it is also aiming to protect Canadian intellectual property.
Although the statement did not identify any particular nation, Canada has repeatedly accused China and Russia of foreign interference. Both countries deny the charges.
Canada has previously ordered Chinese investors to divest from lithium exploration companies and it also banned Chinese technology giant Huawei Technologies Co (華為) from its 5G wireless networks.
Additional reporting by Reuters
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
RSS