Canada seeks Digital Safety Commission, imposing hefty fines for non-compliance.

OTTAWA, February 26, 2024

On February 26, 2024, the Government of Canada introduced the Online Harms Act, legislation to make online platforms responsible for addressing harmful content and for creating a safer online space that protects all people in Canada, especially children.

The Bill would create stronger online protections for children and better safeguard everyone in Canada from online hate and other types of harmful content. It would hold online platforms, including livestreaming and user-uploaded adult content services, accountable for reducing users’ exposure to harmful content on their platforms and help prevent its spread.

For too long, we have tolerated a system where online platforms have offloaded their responsibilities onto parents, expecting them to protect their kids from harms that platforms create or amplify.

The Bill’s core components are:

1. The introduction of a new legislative and regulatory framework, the Online Harms Act, to reduce exposure to seven kinds of harmful content on online platforms, including livestreaming and adult content services. This new Act would also create a new Digital Safety Commission to enforce the framework and a Digital Safety Ombudsperson to provide support for users and victims;
2. Changes to the Criminal Code to better address hate crime and hate propaganda;
3. Changes to the Canadian Human Rights Act to allow individuals and groups to file complaints against people who post hate speech online; and
4. The enhancement of the laws to protect children from sexual exploitation through amendments to an Act respecting the mandatory reporting of internet child pornography by persons who provide an internet service.

Everyone in Canada should be able to access an online environment where they can express themselves freely, without fearing for their safety or their life. The Government of Canada will always respect Canadians’ constitutional right to freedom of expression, which is essential in a healthy democracy.  However, there is also an urgent need for better safeguards for social media users, particularly children. This is why the new framework is focused on seven types of the most damaging and extremely harmful content online.

Online platforms, including livestreaming and adult content services, must be transparent, and they must be held accountable. The safety of everyone in Canada, especially children and society’s most vulnerable, depends on it.

www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/news/2024/02/backgrounder–government-of-canada-introduces-legislation-to-combat-harmful-content-online-including-the-sexual-exploitation-of-children.html

www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/online-harms-liberals-seek-to-create-digital-safety-commission-new-ombudsperson/ar-BB1iTlEo