Canadian values in
Canadian media
Hate, death threats, and violence have no place in traditional or social media.
Canadian media obey the law. If they publish something untrue, they can get sued. They don’t publish incitements to violence, child sexual abuse material, or other illegal content not only because it’s unethical, but also because it’s illegal. If they did, they’d end up in jail. Canada’s desire to be a fair, decent, and democratic society depends on enforcement of these rules.
Social media has thrown centuries of Canadian law and tradition out the window. Facebook and YouTube regularly broadcast material that would land any Canadian company in court: hate, incitements to violence, death threats, terrorist recruiting material, child sexual abuse material, revenge porn – you name it. These companies insist that their self-serving “community standards,” which comply with American law, take precedence over Canadian law and the will of the Canadian people.
Canada needs to enforce its own laws, and its own values, online. Here’s how we do it:
- Enforce existing laws. Governments already have a lot of power to crack down on platforms that facilitate illegal activity, but they refuse to use it. That has to change. If it’s illegal offline, it’s illegal online.
- Make platforms’ Canadian executives personally liable for their company’s conduct, with penalties including possible jail time.
- Change the law so that Canadian courts can block the flow of funds to repeat offenders. If you break the law, we should break your business.
We want Canadian laws and Canadian values to govern all media equally, ending Big Tech’s impunity for breaking our laws.
