Question Period Note: ONLINE HARMS

What is the Government doing to address online harms?

• The Government of Canada is committed to keeping Canadians safe online, while at the same time respecting their rights and freedoms.
• Canada’s Criminal Code contains provisions that address hate propaganda, terrorist propaganda, and child pornography.
• The Government of Canada will continue to explore ways to better protect Canadians from online harms, including considering potential new requirements for social media platforms to remove harmful content where appropriate.

The 2019 platform of the Liberal Party of Canada included a commitment to impose a requirement on social media platforms “to remove illegal content, including hate speech, within 24 hours or face significant financial penalties.”

The Criminal Code includes three crimes of hate propaganda relevant to online communication. It also includes authority for a Court to order the removal of hate propaganda stored on and made available to the public through a computer system in Canada.

The Criminal Code provides a wide range of terrorism offences, including counselling the commission of a terrorism offence. A person who uses the Internet can be found guilty of these crimes depending on the circumstances of the case. The Criminal Code also authorizes a judge to order the deletion of terrorist propaganda that is stored on and made available to the public through a computer system in Canada, as well as other material involving online harm, including child pornography, voyeuristic recordings (“peeping tom”), and intimate images (“revenge porn”).

Former section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act prohibited online hate messages. It was repealed in 2013.

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