As the debate rages ahead of potential government action, Professor Richard Moon was quoted in a Toronto Star article about who should decide what you can’t say on social media.
“We have complained to this point about there being too much hateful material there, too much disinformation — ‘They need to police that; they need to take it down,’" says Professor Moon. “The flip side is we want to be careful they don’t take too much stuff down, they don’t apply these restrictions in an overly broad fashion and remove speech that could and should be considered a legitimate part of public discussion.”
Professor Moon says while it is reasonable for Ottawa to introduce regulations, he worries companies will end up taking more content down than they need to.
“One concern or problem with regulating — either the informal social demand that they remove material or the legal demand that they take down material — is the risk they’ll be over-inclusive, the risk they will take down material that is not unlawful. And that to be on the safe side they’ll remove material simply because some view it as offensive or hurtful — material that perhaps shouldn’t be removed, that may be a legitimate part of public conversation ” he said.
“The question would be: Who makes the determination? Is there a risk of it being applied in an overly broad fashion to avoid the possibility of liability? In what way will the legislation ensure or protect the free speech right? Those are really tough questions.”