Will online regulation bill restrict free speech?

With a bill that seeks to regulate online content before the House of Commons, those who advocate for free speech and who speak out against misinformation online have some concerns.

Part of Bill C-63 would compel online platforms to create protections for children, as well as remove, restrict, and report any content that sexualizes or victimizes children. 

Nobody is arguing with that portion of Bill C-63. However, the bill also amends the criminal code, creating stiff penalties for hate speech that could include up to life in prison for advocating genocide, as well as creating a new federal regulatory body enforcing the rules.

Those who fight misinformation say, that while some regulation is needed, classifying hate speech online could be tricky with Canada’s hard-to-prove hate speech laws.

“What exactly is hate speech? When is it just an opinion? When are you just mocking with someone? So I think we’ll see challenges in early days around this law,” said Timothy Caulfield, professor of law at the University of Alberta.

The bill comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is set to rule on whether or not governments have a right to regulate social media content. Meanwhile, the European Union has taken a heavy-handed approach to regulating online content.

“In the United States, the First Amendment is almost like a religion. I suspect the Supreme Court is going to make it very difficult to regulate in this space, and then in the EU, we have much stronger regulation. I suspect as most often is the case, that Canada will land in the middle,” Caulfield said.

An advocate for civil liberties in Canada adds Bill C-63 could potentially overwhelm the courts if passed as written.

James Turk, director of the Centre for Free Expression, notes part of the bill would allow people to make complaints against individuals to the human rights commission, while the government could apply a hate crime offence to any other separate offence instead of just an aggravating factor.

“What the boundary line is, is not clear. If it takes a court system and four levels of court to sort out what’s what, when there’s potentially hundreds or thousands of potentially offensive posts a day. If this were taken seriously, the courts could be tied up forever,” explained Turk.