Euractiv's Tech Team gives a breakdown of the week’s biggest European tech news in the world of politics and policy.
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In recent years the intersection between law, technology, and policy has exploded as digital policy has become a mainstream concern in Canada and around the world. This podcast explores digital policies in conversations with people studying the legal and policy challenges, set the rules, or are experts in the field. It provides a Canadian perspective, but since the internet is global, examining international developments and Canada’s role in shaping global digital policy is be an important p ...
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Episode 237: A Conversation with Jason Woywada of BCFIPA on Political Party Privacy and Bill C-4
37:23
37:23
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37:23The government’s unexpected privacy reform agenda includes both lawful access in Bill C-2 and the evisceration of political party privacy in Bill C-4. While Bill C-4 is framed as implementing affordability measures, it also exempts political parties from the application of privacy protections on a retroactive basis dating back to 2000.To examine th…
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Episode 236: Robert Diab on the Return of Lawful Access
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39:49
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39:49Lawful access is back. Bill C-2, the government’s border bill, includes a new information demand power that would result in warrantless disclosure of information about a subscriber, a new international production order, and requirements for providers to assist law enforcement in working with their networks. There will no doubt be multiple podcast e…
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Episode 235: Teresa Scassa on the Alberta Clearview AI Ruling That Could Have a Big Impact on Privacy and Generative AI
31:00
31:00
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31:00The privacy concerns with Clearview AI sparked investigations and court cases around the world. The issues date back many years, but recently an Alberta court weighed in on the application of provincial privacy law in a decision that has big implications not only for that company but for the intersection between privacy and generative AI.To help un…
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Episode 234: “Solutions Aren’t Going to be Found Through Nostalgia”: Mark Musselman on the CRTC Hearings on Canadian Content Rules
36:13
36:13
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36:13The CRTC recently wrapped up a two-week hearing on the Online Streaming Act that featured most of the usual suspects, though notably not the large streaming services. The Commission grappled with foundational issues such as modernizing the definition of Canadian content, instituting IP requirements, and introducing new discoverability rules into Ca…
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Episode 233: Abdi Aidid on AI, the Law and the Future of Legal Practice
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53:25
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53:25The discussion on the intersection between AI and the law, especially with respect to legal services continues to grow. From lawyers that mistakenly rely on AI generated cases to AI support for due diligence and comment review, the role of AI within legal practice has emerged as a critical issue. Professor Abdi Aidid is a law professor at the Unive…
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Episode 232: What Will Canadian Digital Policy Look Like Under the New Liberal Carney Government?
25:11
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25:11Digital policy did not play a major role in the recent federal election, but the new Mark Carney Liberal government is quickly going to face a wide range of digital-related policy questions. This week’s Law Bytes podcast examines the short, medium and longer term issues including the future of the digital services tax, Canadian digital sovereignty,…
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Episode 231: Sara Bannerman on How Canadian Political Parties Maximize Voter Data Collection and Minimize Privacy Safeguards
30:44
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30:44As the 2025 federal election passes the midway point, it is increasingly apparent that the federal political parties are not only battling for votes, but also for data. Canadians may not see it but political parties are data machines anxious to collect and use as much data about potential supporters as possible. Sara Bannerman is the Canada Researc…
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Episode 230: Aengus Bridgman on the 2025 Federal Election, Social Media Platforms, and Misinformation
38:30
38:30
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38:30The 2025 federal election is now in its second week and the battle for attention and ultimately votes is taking place both online and offline. The enormous influence of online sites such as Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and a handful of others raises real issues about how information spreads, its reliability, and risks of misinformation and disinformat…
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Episode 229: My Digital Access Day Keynote - Assessing the Canadian Digital Policy Record
28:26
28:26
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28:26With a federal election just called and the campaign now underway, the focus will turn - at least in very small part - to party policies. It is certainly possible that digital issues such as AI regulation, online harms, and the fate of Internet laws will merit a mention. I’m hoping to cover those issues in the weeks ahead, but this week, I offer on…
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Episode 228: Kumanan Wilson on Why Canadian Health Data Requires Stronger Privacy Protection in the Trump Era
26:39
26:39
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26:39The craziness of the Trump administration relationship with Canada was on full display this past week as seemingly every day involved some form of policy change on tariffs – first on, then slightly delayed for some goods, then slightly delayed for more goods and by week’s end threats of new tariffs. Given the uncertainty, I recently co-wrote an op-…
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Episode 227: Tara Henley on How to Save the CBC
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32:49
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32:49Debates over the role and future of the CBC are seemingly about as old as the CBC itself. Those debates have become increasingly fractious in recent years as some see the public broadcaster as essential to Canadian culture and to address concerns about misinformation, while other insist it is hopelessly biased, outdated, and a threat to marketplace…
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Episode 226: Richard Gold on Why Canada Should Target U.S. Patents To Help Counter Tariff Trade Pressure
25:43
25:43
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25:43The trade battle between Canada and the U.S. took a brief break last week as hours before the Trump tariffs were scheduled to take effect, President Trump agreed to a 30 day delay in return for various border measures. That brought a sigh of relief but no real sense that the issue is over. Indeed, quite the opposite – as future battles over tariffs…
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Episode 225: How Canada Can Leverage Digital Policy to Retaliate Against Trump’s Tariffs
21:09
21:09
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21:09Canada now finds itself in economic war with the United States as President Donald Trump has levied a 25% tariff on all Canadian goods (10% for energy), which are scheduled to start on Tuesday. In response, Canada will levy retaliatory tariffs valued at $155 billion with $30 billion coming this week and another $125 billion in several weeks time. I…
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Episode 224: Why Prorogation and Donald Trump Spell the End of an Era in Canadian Digital Policy
22:34
22:34
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22:34A lot has happened over the past six weeks since the last Law Bytes episode that provided a year-end review. TikTok briefly went offline in the U.S., Meta changed its content moderation policies in a major shift designed to curry favour with Donald Trump, Amazon announced it is laying off all of its Quebec-based employees, and Bell obtained an expa…
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Episode 223: The Year in Canadian Digital Law and Policy
33:41
33:41
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33:41Canadian digital law and policy in 2024 featured the long-delayed online harms bill, controversial implementation of streaming and online news legislation, as well as a myriad of notable copyright, AI, and privacy court cases. Government legislation stalled in the House of Commons, but with trade battles over a digital services tax, a competition c…
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Episode 222: Robert Diab on Canadian Media’s Copyright Lawsuit Against OpenAI
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41:39Canada’s largest media companies came together recently to file a copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI, the owners of ChatGPT. I wrote about the suit, suggesting that the primary motivation behind the suit was likely the hope to kickstart settlement discussions with the hope of a licence. Robert Diab, a law professor at Thompson Rivers Uni…
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Episode 221: Inside My Canadian Heritage Committee Appearance on Freedom of Expression
37:11
37:11
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37:11The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage has for the past month been conducting a study on protecting freedom of expression. The counters of the study aren’t entirely clear. In fact, after I was invited to appear, I asked for some sense of what the committee was looking to address. There wasn’t much detail, which has really left it open for witn…
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Episode 220: Marina Pavlović on the CRTC’s Plans to Address Consumer Frustration Over Wireless Contracts
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30:24
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30:24Consumer frustration with just about everything associated with Canadian communications services is well known. The list of concerns is long: high prices, contracts that lock in consumers but not providers, gaming prices to make comparison shopping difficult, and confusing consumer codes among them. As politicians have begun to take notice, the CRT…
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Episode 219: Scott Benzie on What the Corporate TikTok Ban Means For Canadian Digital Creators
27:54
27:54
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27:54The recent announcement of a Canadian government decision to ban the corporate offices of TikTok but leave the app untouched has left many puzzled since the approach may actually make matters worse. The potential privacy and security risks associated with the app will remain but the ability to hold the company accountable will be weakened. While th…
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Episode 218: Emily Laidlaw and Taylor Owen on Saving the Online Harms Act
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40:35The Online Harms Act or Bill C-63 was introduced last February after years of false starts, public consultations, and debates. Months later, the bill appears to be stalled in the House of Commons and has yet to make it to committee for further study. Some view that as a win, given their criticism of the bill, though others who have waited years for…
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Episode 217: David Fraser on the Privacy Implications of the Federal Court of Appeal’s Facebook Ruling
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30:52It has been many years since the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal captured headlines. The services at the heart of the case no longer exist, but the legal case in Canada continues to march on. Last month, the Federal Court of Appeal overturned a lower court decision that had largely sided with Facebook. In its place, it released a n…
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Episode 216: Game Changer or More of the Same?: Patrick Leblond on the New Global E-Commerce Agreement
37:14
37:14
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37:14For over 25 years, the World Trade Organization, an intergovernmental organization based in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade, has grappled with how to engage with e-commerce. What started as a moratorium on customs duties has expanded into the development of a new agreement that touches on a wide range of issue…
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Episode 215: Jan Grabowski on Wikipedia’s Antisemitism Problem
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34:35
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34:35This podcast drops on Monday, October 7th, the one-year anniversary of the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. I’ve largely kept the issue the rising tide of antisemitism since the Hamas terrorist attacks off the Law Bytes podcast, but those that follow my work will know that I have been vocal on social media and the mainstream media expr…
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Episode 214: Erin Millar on Trust in Media and the Implementation of the Online News Act
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33:35
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33:35Questions about trust in the media have escalated in Canada in recent months as with each error or questionable tweet, there is seemingly an inevitable chorus of concerns that raise doubts about the implications of government regulation and funding of the media. So where is the Online News Act at right now? What of the new collective designed to di…
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Episode 213: Elaine Craig on Mainstreaming Porn and Why Bill S-210 May Make Matters Worse
32:38
32:38
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32:38Bill S-210, the controversial age verification bill which purports to limit access to pornography for those under 18, could be headed for a final vote of approval in the House of Commons within the next couple of weeks. Much of the concern with the bill has focused on the privacy and free speech implications of mandating the technology and opening …
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Episode 212: Matt Hatfield on the State of Canadian Digital Policy as Politicians Return from the Summer Recess
23:43
23:43
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23:43Parliament resumes after a summer break today. While digital policies receded into the background over the past few months, the political intrigue of by-elections and a minority government without an NDP deal will be accompanied by questions about what happens to Bill C-63, Canada’s online harms bill, Bill C-27, the privacy and AI reform bill, Bill…
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Episode 211: Carlos Affonso Souza on the Unprecedented Brazilian Court Order Blocking Twitter/X and VPN Use to Access the Service
48:58
48:58
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48:58The Law Bytes podcast is back with a deep dive into a high profile case coming out of Brazil, where Twitter or X has been under a blocking order this month. Not only is the service blocked, but individuals face significant fines if they try to circumvent the order to access the service by using a VPN. The case raises many questions about enforcing …
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Brussels boots on the ground in San Francisco
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27:55
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27:55The European Commission is currently engaged in "direct" and "intensive" collaboration with California legislators, who have just approved a new AI bill that could "strengthen" and "complement" the EU’s AI regulation. In today's episode, we learn how the Commission works in California and explore whether the US state could prove an important ally i…
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English singer Charli XCX’s new album, "Brat," is making waves, and Elon Musk, with his legal battles, clashes with the EU, and endorsement of Donald Trump, seems to embody the “brat” vibe. Did you miss the summer drama? Euractiv’s tech team has you covered.By Euractiv
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Dissecting Apple's compliance with EU digital competition rules from a civil society perspective
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21:43
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21:43A group of digital rights organisation said that Apple’s plans to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) are ineffective in a submission to the European Commission. The EU executive has opened three non-compliance investigations into Apple’s plans to conform to the DMA, the bloc’s landmark digital competition law. In one of these investigations,…
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Episode 210: Meredith Lilly on the Trade Risks Behind Canada’s Digital Services Tax and Mandated Streaming Payments
36:41
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36:41The battle over a digital services tax has been the subject of Law Bytes podcast episodes for several years as the Canadian government signalled its intent to move ahead with one even as US officials warned of risks of trade retaliation if they did so outside of an international framework. With the DST now in effect, what does trade law have to say…
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Episode 209: Peter Menzies on Why the Canadian News Sector is Broken and How to Fix It
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26:39
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26:39It isn’t news that the Canadian news sector is broken: the Online News Act has caused more harm the good, the dependence on government funding and regulation has grown dramatically and undermined public trust, and implementing Bill C-18 has become mired in controversy. Peter Menzies spent three decades as a working journalist and newspaper executiv…
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Episode 208: Will Page on Why the CRTC’s Bill C-11 Ruling is Discriminatory and May Ultimately Hurt the Canadian Music Market
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44:57The recent CRTC Bill C-11 decision mandating that streaming services pay 5 percent of their revenues has left seemingly everyone unhappy and sparked multiple legal challenges. While much of the focus has been on video streaming, music was a core part of Bill C-11 and the implications for music streaming services may be the most pronounced. Will Pag…
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Europe’s quest for critical raw materials
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21:10The EU has set ambitious goals for securing its supply of critical raw materials, which are key to the digital and green transitions. Today we talk to Chad Blewitt, managing director of the Jadar Project, a highly-anticipated and highly-delayed lithium mining site in Serbia. Jadar is operated by Rio Tinto, the world’s second largest mining company.…
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Episode 207: The State of Digital Law and Policy in Canada as Parliament Breaks for the Summer
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37:35Parliament adjourned for the summer last week, meaning both the House of Commons and Senate are largely on hold until mid-September. The Law Bytes podcast focuses intensively on Canadian legislative and digital policy developments and with another Parliamentary year in the books, this week’s episode takes a look back and take stock of where things …
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The preamble to Meta’s decision to halt AI launch in EU
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22:53On Friday afternoon, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced it is pausing plans to roll out artificial intelligence (AI) features that would use users’ public posts to train its AI models. The company cited a request from the Irish Data Protection Commission. Digital rights NGO Noyb filed 11 complaints against Meta’s AI plans…
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Episode 206: James Plotkin and David Fewer on Canada’s Landmark Copyright Ruling on Fair Dealing and Digital Locks
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32:05The question of copyright and digital locks – technically referred to as anti-circumvention legislation – dates back more than 25 years with creation of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Internet Treaties and later in Canada with the enactment of the Copyright Modernization Act. The full scope and application of those digital lock rule…
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Episode 205: Len St-Aubin on What the CRTC’s Internet Streaming Ruling Means For Creators, Competition and Consumer Costs
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29:30Last week, the CRTC released its much-anticipated Bill C-11 ruling on the initial mandated contributions from Internet streaming services. While the government focused on the requirement to contribute 5% of Canadian revenues, a closer look revealed the CRTC largely ignored industry data and the actual contributions from Internet streaming services …
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How consumer protections can be enhanced in e-commerce
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17:27This week, together with Marco Scialdone, a lawyer and adjunct professor of law and management of digital content and services at the European University of Rome, we delve into the impact of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) on consumer protection in e-commerce, focusing on the responsibilities of online marketplaces and the role of consumer orga…
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Episode 204: What Could Have Been for the Bill S-210 Hearings
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31:01Bill S-210, the mandated age verification bill for pornography sites that in reality targets everything from Google Search to Netflix, was expected to be the subject of extensive hearings by the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. But after a Conservative filibuster, it appears that there will be only one hearing and that the…
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The Commission’s coordination failures in AI investment
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19:27The European Commission kicked off plans to boost investments in its AI sector back in 2018. But they were neither clearly defined, nor well coordinated, argued the European Court of Auditors (ECA) in a report released this week. The gap of investments and innovation has only grown with the US since these plans were put in motion, research has foun…
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The AI Convention on Human Rights: Worth the hype?
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18:15The Council of Europe, the bloc's human rights body, adopted its first framework convention on artificial intelligence (AI_, democracy and the rule of law on 17 May. It's heralded as the world's first binding international treaty to ensure the technology doesn't interfere with human rights. But the negotiations were riddled with criticism, particul…
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