Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk expressed sheer disbelief over the federal Liberals’ recently tabled bill concerning hate speech that could retroactively punish citizens for speech they made years ago.
The free speech enthusiast posted “This sounds insane if accurate!” after reading another social media user’s description of the Online Harms Act.
The bill, which is under intense scrutiny from the public, could potentially allow for the retroactive punishment of statements made before the bill’s enactment if such statements remain publicly accessible.
As per the proposed legislation, an individual is guilty of hate speech if he “communicates or causes to be communicated hate speech so long as the hate speech remains public and the person can remove or block access to it.”
In other words, this means that anyone could face penalties for not removing previously legal content that would, under the new law, be considered hate speech.
Adding to the absurdity of the bill, it would also place the oversight of these hate speech complaints under the authority of individuals who have previously been involved in filing hate speech complaints themselves.
New bill allows for anonymous complaints
The text of the Trudeau Government’s bill also allows for hate speech complaints to be filed anonymously to the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
Another part of the bill reflects the 2002 movie Minority Report, calling for citizens to be placed under house arrest if “a person fears on reasonable grounds that another person will commit an offense.”
In other words, individuals can be punished for crimes they haven’t committed.
Liberal Justice Minister Arif Virani acknowledged those with concerns over how the Online Harms Bill could limit their freedom of expression, but said that the increased power it provides would be a “very, very important” tool.
“There’s a lot of bad stuff out there. But this is not about the bad stuff. This is a much higher level,” he assured in March.
Conservative MP Rachel Thomas has called the bill “insane,” claiming “The Liberals want to punish people for a crime they *MIGHT* commit!”
The Liberals have stated the bill would increase free speech.
