(Ottawa) The federal government wants to tighten the screws on social media platforms, live streaming services and adult content services.
The Minister of Justice, Arif Virani, tabled Bill C-63 on online harm on Monday, which has been awaited for years, and which promises to fuel debate in the House of Commons over the next few years. weeks and months to come.
Under the legislation, online services will be required to “reduce exposure to harmful content”, and will be required to make certain content inaccessible, particularly the sexual victimization of children and intimate content communicated in non-consensual.
Without being forced to verify the age of users, as Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne’s bill S-210 proposes, sites will have to implement “special protections for children”, it is indicated in the documents of government information.
Among the package of measures contained in Bill C-63 is the creation of new entities, namely the Digital Security Commission, made up of five members appointed by the government, as well as the Digital Security Ombudsman.
Users will be able to contact these organizations in the event of detection of harmful content.
The Minister of Justice also wants to create a new hate crime offense in the Criminal Code. This would apply to all offenses provided for in the Criminal Code, we read in the government information kit.
He also proposes increasing the maximum penalties for the four hate propaganda offenses. The sentence for glorifying genocide, for example, would increase from five years to life in prison, while that for other hate crimes could reach five years instead of two.
Private and encrypted messaging services are excluded from Bill C-63.
Minister Virani will provide an update at the end of the day, Monday.
A few hours before the bill was tabled, New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh criticized the Liberals for their slowness in acting on this issue. At the same time, he accused conservatives of intending to side with web giants and their billionaires like Elon Musk.
Harmful content falls into seven categories:
- Content depicting the sexual victimization of children or perpetuating the victimization of survivors;
- Content intended to intimidate a child;
- Content that pushes a child to harm themselves;
- Content inciting violent extremism or terrorism;
- Content inciting violence;
- Content fomenting hatred;
- Intimate content communicated in a non-consensual manner, including hyperfaking.