Long-awaited online harms bill proposes new regulatory bodies, Criminal Code changes

The Liberal government is proposing new regulatory bodies and several changes to a number of laws in new legislation to tackle online abuse.

The Online Harms Act, tabled Monday, proposes to police harmful content online. The Act defines harmful content through seven categories:

• Intimate content posted without consent.
• Content that sexually victimizes a child or revictimizes a survivor.
• Content used to bully a child.
• Content that encourages a child to harm themselves.
• Content considered hate speech.
• Content that incites violence.
• Content that incites terrorism.

The legislation would see the government establish a five-member digital safety commission to enforce the new rules. The commission would be empowered to order the removal of online content that sexualizes children or victims of sexual violence, and sexual content that is posted without consent.

The government also is proposing to establish a digital safety ombudsperson who would offer support to victims and guidance to social media companies.

The act also would amend the Criminal Code to increase sentences for spreading hate online. The Canadian Human Rights Act would be amended to allow complaints about online hate speech to be filed with the Canadian Human Rights Commission.