The Canadian government is considering new rules to regulate how social media platforms moderate potentially harmful user-generated content. Already, the proposed legislation has been criticized by internet scholars — across the political spectrum — as some of the worst in the world.
Why freedom in America is threatened as never before.
Here is something any honest person must acknowledge: As America has become more secular, it has become less free.
Individuals can differ as to whether these two facts are correlated, but no honest person can deny they are facts.
It seems to me indisputable that they are correlated. To deny this, one would have to argue that it is merely coincidental that free speech, the greatest of all freedoms, is more seriously threatened than at any time in American history while a smaller-than-ever percentage of Americans believe in God or regularly attend church.
Immigration is Canada’s most under-analyzed social policy. It’s justification being reduced by government and media to the most simplistic of rationalizations:
Immigration policy exists in response to an aging population. Add to this an aging workforce. Stop the press. An exaggeration this may be, but not one without a point. This specious approach has for decades served to cover-up a plethora of related implications.
The way that Facebook controls its News Feed is often controversial and largely opaque to the outside world.
Now the social network is attempting to shine more light on the content it suppresses but doesn’t remove entirely. On Thursday, Facebook published its “Content Distribution Guidelines” detailing the roughly three-dozen types of posts it demotes for various reasons in the News Feed, like clickbait and posts by repeat policy offenders. That process, which relies heavily on machine learning technology to automatically detect problematic content, effectively throttles the reach of offending posts and comments without the author knowing.
Populist People’s Party of Canada (PPC) leader Maxime Bernier is confident his party will win seats in Canada’s federal election on Monday and believes the PPC will force other parties to enter a debate on freedom.
According to a new poll from Pew Research Center, two out of every three Democrats believes the government should actively crack down on “online misinformation,” even if doing so restricts traditionally protected First Amendment freedoms.
The Conservative platform commits to “promoting free speech on campus,” but Erin O’Toole isn’t saying whether this involves withholding federal funds from universities and colleges that fall short of accommodating “the range of perspectives” his pledge aims to protect.
Yesterday evening Gab received a letter from the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Protest at the United States Capitol.
The House panel investigating the riot at the U.S. Capitol issued sweeping document requests on Friday to social media companies, expanding the scope of its investigation as it seeks to examine the events leading to the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The requests were issued to technology giants, including Google, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok, and also to Reddit, Parler, Telegram, 4chan, 8kun and other platforms.
The committee asked 15 companies to provide copies of any reviews, studies, reports or analysis about misinformation related to the 2020 election, foreign influence in the election, efforts to stop the election certification and “domestic violent extremists” associated with efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including the attack on the Capitol.
The government wants you to believe it’s targeting hate speech, when in reality it’s targeting free speech
Free speech ensures that Canadians have the right to tell governments when they’re wrong. While this may be unpleasant for governments, it is absolutely vital in a democratic society.
Rather than strengthening Canadians’ rights, the Trudeau government wants to filter free speech through the lens of a bureaucratic superstructure. There can be no doubt that there are bad things on the internet. Child pornography, hate speech, and other such crimes are detestable. But these crimes are already labelled as such through the criminal code with lengthy prison sentences for those who are convicted.
AUGUST 15, 1967, was the first day of a tumultuous setback for free speech. At midnight pirate radio had been outlawed and all the stations but Caroline had gone off the air. Fifty-four years later the right to express what we think and feel is more under threat than ever. Speaking truth to power has never been more important as we face existential threats from Chinese communism, a resurgent Taliban and Al Qaeda as well as a societal disintegration unparalleled since the closing stages of the Roman Empire.
The federal government has proposed setting up a new watchdog that would oversee internet platforms operating in Canada — such as Facebook, YouTube, Pornhub and Twitter — to ensure illegal content, such as child pornography or hate-speech, doesn’t end up there.
The “digital safety commissioner of Canada” would oversee a slate of new rules proposed by the federal government Thursday. There are also plans to consult broadly with Canadians online before potentially putting the framework into legislation this fall.
…New regulations overseen by the commissioner would be aimed at curbing the spread of child sexual abuse material, hate-speech, terrorist content, incitements to violence and non-consensual sharing of intimate images.
In egregious cases, where a platform is flagrantly violating the rules when it comes to, specifically, terrorist content or child pornography, there could be a blocking order sought by the commissioner in court, which could make the website inaccessible to Canadians.
If you complain about the attack on freedom of speech they’ll call you an advocate of child porn.
This is pure libel. We have never advocated or approved of any violence or any illegal activity of any kind. And if we are “extremist,” so is the U.S. Constitution, for we are trying to defend the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, and the equality of rights of all people before the law. But with these groups, there is no discussion, no appeal, no opportunity offered to defend oneself or argue one’s case. They will be shutting us down soon, and I may go to prison or worse, but remember: if that happens, it will be for no crime.
Feds @CdnHeritage will detail proposed online #censorship rules today. Bill #C36 would ban legal but hurtful content deemed to “undermine Canada’s social cohesion or democracy”. https://t.co/Lt7UvbAOBT @imondouisabelle #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/vLHchVSKUO
— Holly Doan (@hollyanndoan) July 29, 2021
“It may not seem like a massive development in terms of dealing with the scope of everything that’s been talked about here today, but it will equip law enforcement to see more things through to charges in this country.” —RCMP Cpl. Anthony Statham.
Unfortunately, many Canadians seem reluctant to comprehend the consequences of this anti-freedom, anti-democratic agenda.
