Trudeau Reiterates Intention to Regulate Online Hate During Speech at B20 Summit in Bali

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivers a speech at the B20 Summit ahead of the G20 Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, on Nov. 14, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau repeated the government’s intention to stiffen regulations related to online hate at the Business 20 (B20) Summit in Bali on Nov. 14, saying that online “harassment and violence” need to be stopped while free speech is safeguarded.

Speaking to business leaders about technological advancements during the summit in the Indonesian province, Trudeau said Canada “is leading on the responsible development and use of artificial intelligence,” before adding that the federal government will be introducing “major legislative reforms” to strengthen children’s privacy protection.

“While always ensuring and defending free speech, we must make it clear that it cannot be OK to bully and attack people online,” he said.

Trudeau added that other governments and “especially big technology companies” hold a responsibility to “address online harassment and violence to ensure trust in technology.”

Trudeau’s mandate letter to Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez in December 2021 instructed Rodriguez to “introduce legislation to reform the Broadcasting Act” and “ask web giants to pay their fair share and combat serious forms of harmful online content.”

“Introduce legislation as soon as possible to combat serious forms of harmful online content to protect Canadians and hold social media platforms and other online services accountable for the content they host,” Trudeau wrote.

Since then, Rodriguez has introduced Bill C-11, “An Act to Amend the Broadcasting Act,” also called the “Online Streaming Act,” which is currently pending Senate approval. If passed, it will give the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) authority to regulate content available in Canada on major online streaming platforms like Spotify and YouTube.

Content Regulation

Ottawa initially maintained that the pending legislation would not allow the CRTC to regulate user-generated content on social media platforms, but CRTC chair Ian Scott told a parliamentary committee in May that Bill C-11 would actually grant the commission that power.

“As constructed, there is a provision that would allow us to do it as required,” Scott told the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on May 18.

“There should be a higher degree of trust in relation to the commission’s future actions,” he added.

A few months before Scott’s comments, Rodriguez had informed the House that C-11 would not grant the CRTC any overreaching regulation power.

“Bill C-11 clearly outlines that the regulator would have no power to regulate the everyday use of social media by Canadians,” he told the House on Feb. 16.

“Let me be clear. We will not regulate users or online creators through the bill or our policy, nor digital-first creators, nor influencers, nor users. Only the online streaming companies themselves would have new responsibilities under this act.”

Nonetheless, digital media giants like YouTube, Amazon, and Spotify have since petitioned the Senate to slow approval of the legislation.

The Digital Media Association (DiMA), representing all three of the companies and more, said C-11 “will have a significant impact on music streaming services.”

“Bill C-11 attempts to impose a system of regulation that is designed for traditional broadcasters onto streaming services,” DiMA wrote in a submission to the Senate.

“Imposing this antiquated system onto innovative streaming services in an era of consumer choice, where there are no gatekeepers to content as there are in the broadcasting context, is the wrong approach.”

Noé Chartier and Andrew Chen contributed to this report.