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His comments come after some have called for stricter rules around online hate speech, bullying and harassment, saying companies or governments ought to have clear guidelines around what people can say online.
“For having private companies decide what is and isn’t acceptable speech online is not sustainable longer term, and lacks transparency and accountability,” Chan said.
Guilbeault, in an earlier testimony before the committee on Friday, said new rules around online speech would be unveiled in the spring. He also suggested that tech companies were seeking government regulation as a way to sidestep recent criticism that they’ve done too little to curb online hate themselves.
“Why are the platforms like Facebook asking that the government regulate online hate speech? Between you and I, I think it’s to maybe share the heat that comes from all the pressure that all those companies are feeling right now,” he said.
Chan, along with former CBC executive Richard Stursberg, wrote an op-ed for the Globe and Mail in November calling for consistent regulations across developed nations to restrict
“YouTube, Reddit, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and the rest need to meet the same standards,” they wrote. “The alternative is a fractured internet, governed by private rules rather than public ones.”
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