Twitter concerned Canada may censor free speech

Leaked documents reveal Twitter is concerned about a piece of Canadian legislation that would allow the government to censor the social media platform and hamper the right to free expression. 

Canada’s Parliament is considering an update to Bill C-36, also called the online harms bill. According to the National Post, the legislation would force social media platforms to take down any post deemed by the government to fall within one of the following categories: terrorist content, content that incites violence, hate speech, intimate images shared non-consensually, and child sexual exploitation content. 

This would be overseen by the Digital Safety Commissioner of Canada, who would flag the offending post. At that point, the platform would have 24 hours to remove it. 

Online platforms may also have to report some posts to the police and security services. 

A leaked response by Twitter to the proposed legislation shows the social media platform is concerned about government overreach and free speech infringements. 

The bill “sacrifices freedom of expression to the creation of a government run system of surveillance of anyone who uses Twitter,” said the company. 

The company also fears that the government might flag content as “a political tactic” and try to influence elections. 

“As lived during the recent Canadian federal election, a general approach to flagging will result in censorship,” Twitter said. 

The social media giant also expressed concern that there is not “the most basic procedural fairness requirements you might expect from a government-run system such as notice and warning.” 

Twitter has repeatedly come under fire for censoring political views and interfering in elections. 

During the 2020 presidential race, Twitter censored a breaking story by the New York Post about Joe Biden’s son Hunter, which revealed scandals and corruption involving the Biden family and damaging to Biden’s presidential campaign. Twitter also banned the New York Post for several weeks, without warning. 

As previously reported by Frontline News, Twitter also suspended political satire site Babylon Bee along with political commentators Tucker Carlson and Charlie Kirk for expressing their political views.