Liberals’ online harms bill not about regulating speech: minister
Global News
The comments come as the government faces mounting pressure to introduce the long-promised legislation following a sharp rise in antisemitism online since October.
Canada’s justice minister said he hopes to avoid accusations that the Liberal government is trying to regulate or curb speech with its planned bill to protect people from online harms.
“Where I don’t want this bill to go is down some sort of path where it looks like people are trying to tell you what to think, or how to criticize people,” federal Justice Minister Arif Virani told The Canadian Press in a wide-ranging interview last week.
“That’s absolutely not what we’re talking about.”
The comments come as the government faces mounting pressure to introduce the long-promised legislation following a sharp rise in antisemitism online since the latest Israel-Hamas war began in early October.
Last year, the government sent its initial plans for the bill back to the drawing board in after facing criticism. Virani now says he hopes to bring the final bill forward sometime next year. He is taking over the bill from Canadian Heritage, which shepherded two highly controversial media bills on online streaming and compensation for news media.
The group of experts the government tasked with reworking the bill recently published an open letter saying it was time for the Liberals to bring it forward. They said Canadian children are less protected than kids in countries where similar laws are already in effect.
Among the steps they have called the government to take is to create a regulator to hold online platforms accountable to protect users from online harms, “with the power to investigate and audit platforms, mandate corrective action and impose fines.”
Virani has remained tight-lipped on whether it would move ahead with that specific proposal. He said the legislation is complicated to develop, and he is hoping to avoid pitfalls regarding free speech that other jurisdictions have seen with similar laws.
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