Trudeau Is Crushing Free Speech in Canada. Let It Be a Warning to the US
Quote:Americans must have breathed a huge sigh of relief last year when the Biden administration announced they were pausing plans for a "disinformation governance board." As a Canadian, I'm here to warn you against getting too comfortable.
Canadians made the mistake of taking free speech for granted. Now, President Biden's friend, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, is close to having new laws in place that would expand government regulation of online speech in Canada. In fact, Biden will be traveling to Canada later this month on an official state visit. For the sake of the United States, here's hoping that Biden doesn't get any ideas from Trudeau.
The Canadian legislation in question is known as Bill C-11, or the Online Streaming Act. Ostensibly a way to prioritize the "needs and interests" of Canadians, the Trudeau administration claims the act will ensure online algorithms promote Canadian content on social media and streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney+ and Spotify. Yet when a multi-partisan group of Canadian Senators proposed an amendment to the legislation to protect what individual citizens say on social media from government oversight and regulation, the Trudeau administration rejected the amendment.
Under the current iteration of the bill, user-generated content is included in the scope of government oversight. The bill also makes clear that the purpose of these new government powers is to "support countering disinformation." It also specifically mentions serving the interests of "Canadians from racialized communities and Canadians of diverse ethnocultural backgrounds, socio-economic statuses, abilities and disabilities, sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and ages."
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