© Reuters.
By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada on Monday unveiled draft legislation to combat online hate that would force major companies to quickly remove harmful content and that would boost the penalty for inciting genocide to life in prison.
The Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced the bill with the stated aim of protecting children from online predators.
The bill says major social media companies must quickly remove content that sexually victimizes a child and intimate content that is communicated without consent. In both cases, the content would have to be removed within 24 hours, subject to an oversight and review process.
In a briefing to reporters, government officials cited a “lack of accountability and transparency on how platforms protect users from harmful content.”
Content providers would also have to introduce special protections for children, including parental controls, safe search settings and content warning labels.
The bill covers social media, user-uploaded adult content and live-streaming services but not private and encrypted messaging services.
And at a time when tensions are rising over Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, the bill would also sharply raise the penalties for those found guilty of advocating or promoting genocide. The proposed maximum sentence would be life in prison, up from the five years at present.
Whether all the provisions make it through to the final version is very unclear. The bill must first be studied by a parliamentary committee and then the upper Senate chamber, both of which can demand changes.
Other nations are moving to shield children from danger on the internet. Last October, Britain’s Online Safety Law came into effect, setting tougher standards for social media platforms.
The Canadian government introduced the bill at a time when ties with major internet companies are strained over Ottawa’s demand that they pay Canadian news publishers for their content.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:)’s Google agreed last November to pay C$100 million annually to publishers while Meta decided to block news on Facebook (NASDAQ:) and Instagram in Canada to avoid the payments.