OTTAWA, Canada — The Canadian government announced a call for public comments from stakeholders and Canadian citizens regarding a controversial proposal that could regulate online content.

The call was motivated in part by the increased scrutiny over MindGeek, the parent company of Pornhub.com, and a series of committee hearings in Parliament regarding the porn tube giant’s business practices and anti-CSAM efforts. Legislative proposals, nonetheless, have been developed across the board to implement a new bureaucracy that would regulate harmful internet content.

YNOT reported earlier this year about the Australian government’s implementation of an e-Safety commissioner that operates as a regulator for hateful and harmful content online. The current proposal before Parliament, though, is a Canadian off-shoot of the current system put in place by the Aussies.

According to a variety of impact studies released by the Canadian government, the opportunity of establishing a so-called ‘Digital Safety Commission’ would permit another regulatory layer.

The National Post, a Canadian conservative broadsheet newspaper, reported late last month that several critics of the Liberal government’s attempts to regulate online speech see potential civil liberties violations, including freedom of expression and the stripping of internet freedom across the country. Joanna Baron, the executive director of the civil libertarian Canadian Constitution Foundation, told Post journalist Anja Karadeglija that the measure is potentially problematic.

“It’s hard to think of a case that you couldn’t make the claim would be covered by those interests, and so this is giving very broad latitude to order in-camera hearings, which normally should be exceptional, should be like state secrets,” Baron said.

Even with the political criticism surrounding the internet safety proposals, the Liberal government intends to progress through the policymaking process. As far as we can tell, much of the bill is already drafted and is lacking specific insights and contributions from online free speech advocates and civil liberties groups.

“[C]anada is committed to taking meaningful action to combat hate speech and other kinds of harmful content online, including child sexual exploitation content, terrorist content, content that incites violence, and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images,” the government stated in a public notice issued June 29. “The Government is asking for written submissions from Canadians on its proposed approach to make social media platforms and other online communications services more accountable and more transparent when it comes to combating harmful content online.”

The government is proposing “a new legislative and regulatory framework that would create rules for how social media platforms and other online services must address harmful content.” This proposed framework sets out criteria and regulatory system “which entities would be subject to the new rules; what types of harmful content would be regulated; new rules and obligations for regulated entities; and two new regulatory bodies and an Advisory Board to administer and oversee the new framework and enforce its rules and obligations.”

The Digital Citizen Initiative under the national Department of Canadian Heritage is responsible for the public comment period. Adult industry stakeholders should consider engaging with the public comment period before its deadline. The Department of Canadian Heritage requires a review of a discussion guide and a technical whitepaper that summarizes the legislation.

The documents are presented as “thematic modules,” that outline a component of the Canadian government’s proposed approach.

Stakeholders and Canadians can submit comments by email to pch.icn-dci.pch@canada.ca.

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