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Jamie Sarkonak: The Liberals' Bill C-34 is a boomer plan to censor the internet

The legislation aims to censor political speech, while putting draconian rules around what kids can do online

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On Wednesday, the Liberals tabled Bill C-34, which would restrict minors from social media. That’s the headline pitch, but the bill goes much further, offering cabinet the power to ban children from online games, shut online entities out of Canada completely and order websites to censor content deemed “harmful” by the government. It’s a Great Canadian Firewall in the making.

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You see, the bill does not specify what specific kinds of safety measures will have to be followed, which kinds of websites will have to follow them, how big a site’s userbase must be to attract regulation, which AI chatbots will be regulated, and a number of other things. Michael Geist, the privacy and internet expert at the University of Ottawa’s law school, has counted a total of 50 decisions that will be left to cabinet and digital safety decision-makers. These would be made after the bill passes, comfortably outside the oversight of Parliament.

Jamie Sarkonak: The Liberals' Bill C-34 is a boomer plan to censor the internet Back to video

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