Elon Musk on Canada’s move to curb online hate content: ‘This sounds insane’
In Short
- Elon Musk comments on Canadian online hate content bill
- Musk tweets that police could arrest for pre-bill hate speech
- He urges fact-checking service to verify
The Canadian government has introduced legislation known as the Online Harms Act, aimed at combatting online hate content and enhancing digital safety, particularly for children.
Under this proposed legislation, online platforms would be held accountable for addressing harmful content and ensuring a safer online environment for all individuals within the country.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, recently commented on this Canadian legislation, expressing his concerns regarding its potential implications.
Musk’s remarks were prompted by a news article, which he retweeted, suggesting that the legislation would grant authorities the power to arrest individuals for past instances of hate speech, even before the bill had been formally introduced in February of that year.
However, this claim was later revealed to be untrue.
The Online Harms Act, introduced by the government led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on February 26, aims to establish stronger online protections, particularly for children, and to combat various forms of harmful content circulating on digital platforms.
According to an official statement from the government, the legislation seeks to hold online platforms accountable for reducing users’ exposure to harmful content and preventing its proliferation.
Specifically, the bill targets content that sexually victimizes children or re-victimizes survivors, as well as intimate content shared without consent.
It also proposes increasing the maximum sentences for illegal hate speech.
Additionally, the legislation empowers citizens to report instances of discriminatory speech to a human rights tribunal, which could result in compensation of up to 20,000 Canadian dollars or fines amounting to 50,000 Canadian dollars, as reported by The Independent.
The introduction of the Online Harms Act reflects Canada’s commitment to fostering a safer and more inclusive online environment, while also addressing the challenges posed by the proliferation of harmful content on digital platforms.