Michael Geist

If you follow me for Canadian digital policy, copyright, and AI regulation, the deeper analysis lives on my Substack - including every Law Bytes podcast episode embedded in full. Free to subscribe: mgeist.substack.com

Anthropic: “Canadians use Claude AI at more than four times the rate the population predicts." As I wrote this morning, Canada’s supposed AI adoption problem is not supported by the data, as the AI strategy relied on outdated stats. anthropic.com/news/canadian-… x.com/mgeist/status/…

The assumption in Canada’s AI strategy is that we lag behind peer countries on AI business adoption. I took a closer look at the numbers and was surprised to find the government cited outdated data and ignored warnings to approach comparisons with caution. michaelgeist.ca/2026/07/outdat…

Canada’s national AI strategy says there is an AI adoption problem with only 12% of businesses using AI. But Statscan released new data days earlier showing adoption had grown to 19.2%. My post on the strategy’s use of outdated data and dubious comparisons michaelgeist.ca/2026/07/outdat…

In almost two decades of building together, @tobi has never once hesitated to stand with me when antisemitism shows up. No hedging. No silence. Just shoulder to shoulder, every f’ing time. That is what real friendship look like.

“I’ve now been disrupted at a podcast about Jewish entrepreneurs, at the opening of a Jewish community centre, and at a fireside chat about building companies. None of those events had anything to do with politics. The only common thread is me, a proud Jew, on a stage.” Thank you @harleyf for saying it like it is. nationalpost.com/news/shopify-h…

Michael Geist, Weekly Digest #16: frontier AI access as a sovereignty and trade issue, stripping privacy enforcement from the Privacy Commissioner under Bill C-36, and how Bill C-34 would block kids from the news twice over. linkedin.com/pulse/weekly-d…

The US government has positioned itself as regulator and guardian of new frontier AI models with discretionary power to switch AI access on and off. Cybersecurity and economic impacts are huge. Open version of my Globe op-ed on how Canada should respond. michaelgeist.ca/2026/07/why-be…

Are Canada’s new internet laws dangerous? @mgeist joined to discuss Canada’s push to regulate the internet: amendments to the Broadcasting Act, the proposed social media ban for children, the Digital Safety Commission, Bill C-22, Minister Marc Miller, and media subsidies. Michael Geist is one of Canada’s leading experts on internet and technology law. Watch here: youtu.be/jNtS_WH16D8

The US has positioned itself as the guardian of frontier AI, determining who gets access. This creates enormous cybersecurity and economic leverage. My Globe op-ed on a multi-pronged strategy in response of build in Canada, open models, and trade talks. theglobeandmail.com/business/comme…

What happened at @startupfest yesterday was antisemitism. Pure & simple. Disguised under a thin veil of advocacy, and everyone in the room saw right through it. I was on stage with Georges St-Pierre talking about entrepreneurship. Not politics. A man burst in screaming horrible accusations at me anyway. Third time in 2 years, including at the opening of a Jewish community centre. My parents were in the front row. I'll never forget their faces. When the target is always the Jew and never the topic, it's not advocacy. It's hate. The room booed him down and cheered as he was walked out. I'm grateful for that. Hate got escorted out. We got right back to building.

National champions and open models would be ideal, but my Globe op-ed argues that for now preferential or equal access to frontier AI models should be a priority with the US positioning itself as de facto regulator and guardian. Trade table place to do it. theglobeandmail.com/business/comme…

Well worth listening to.

The social media ban in Bill C-34 causes harms both when it works and when it doesn’t. When it does not work, governments escalate enforcement demands leading to less privacy and more surveillance. When it works, it cuts young people off from the news. michaelgeist.ca/2026/07/blocke…

Canadian teens face the prospect of being blocked twice from news: news links blocked on Facebook and Instagram for everyone due to the Online News Act, and accounts stripped from TikTok and YouTube under the social media ban as a consequence of Bill C-34. michaelgeist.ca/2026/07/blocke…

So proud of my good friend Justice Alan Diner. Exceptional judge, even better person. Will be a fantastic Chief Justice of the Federal Court! pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-r…

David Loukidelis was BC’s Privacy Commissioner for a decade and enforced its private-sector privacy law from day one. He joins Law Bytes podcast to discuss why Bill C-36 creates unnecessary risks to Canadian privacy with its shocking enforcement changes. michaelgeist.ca/2026/07/the-la…

The focus of Bill C-36 has centred on the government stripping the Privacy Commissioner of power over private sector privacy law. Former BC privacy commissioner David Loukidelis joins the Law Bytes podcast to explain why it’s an unnecessarily risky policy. michaelgeist.ca/2026/07/the-la…

Australia's under-16 social media ban has generated enough data to assess it and the results are consistent across studies: it hasn't worked. Yet Canada not only wants to copy it in Bill C-34, but it plans to drop the age verification privacy analysis. michaelgeist.ca/2026/07/the-da…

Australia's under-16 social media ban isn't working as multiple studies now find most underage users still have accounts. My post on the uncomfortable reality for Canada's Bill C-34: the better the privacy protection, the less effective the ban. michaelgeist.ca/2026/07/the-da…