To combat online abuse, Canada has introduced a new bill with high penalties for hate crimes – including life in prison for inciting genocide.
The proposed Online Harms Act requires social media platforms to remove posts – such as those that sexualize children – within 24 hours.
The law would control “user-uploaded adult content” websites, live-streaming platforms, and social media companies. But the bill still needs to be voted on by Canada’s Parliament.
It lists seven types of destructive content providers would be asked to take away from their websites. Banned content includes posts made to tease a child or those encouraging self-harm.
The proposed Act would create a Digital Safety Commission of Canada to control online platforms.
Recently Justice Minister Arif Virani said, that we know the harm we experience online can have real-world impacts with tragic, and sometimes fatal consequences and yet so much of this goes unchecked.
He said that the bill would ban deep-fakes, such as pictures that recently went viral showing Taylor Swift’s head on a naked woman’s body. Messages which are sent privately between individuals would fall outside of the law’s provisions, he added.
The bill must first be considered by the Senate and the parliamentary committee – both of which may introduce changes to the final draft of the bill.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government also plans to modify the criminal code to increase hate crime penalties, including by introducing a new offense punishable by up to life imprisonment for those found guilty of inciting genocide.
The Canadian Human Rights Act would also be revised to classify hate speech as discrimination and would let the Human Rights Tribunal handle hate speech offenses.
During the 2021 election, the ruling Liberal Party had vowed to introduce an online safety bill within 100 days of re-election.
The leader of the New Democratic Party, Jagmeet Singh said his group would vote for the new law, but complained to the government for waiting so long to introduce the bill.
Their inaction has meant that children were harmed. That children were exploited online because they failed to act, says Singh.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has said his party opposes Justin Trudeau’s woke authoritarian agenda, which he claimed would be used to censor political speech.
Other countries, including France, Australia, and the UK, have recently introduced new laws intended to stem online hate content.
The new legislation comes amid tensions between social media companies and the Canadian government over a law that forces companies to pay Canadian news publishers for their content.
In November, Google’s parent company Alphabet agreed to pay C$100m annually to the government, while Meta decided to block news content on Instagram and Facebook to avoid the law.
