Social media has in many ways become the new public square, where most Canadians connect with friends and family and engage in civic discourse. At the same time, the spread of online harms through social media — hate speech targeting marginalized groups and disinformation enabling extremism and conspiracy — pose significant risks to Canada’s social cohesion, public safety, and democracy.

On Friday, October 15th the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy hosted a virtual panel discussion and Q&A on the Government of Canada’s recent proposal for new legislation to address illegal online content, and what we should do to develop regulatory solutions while protecting the rights and freedoms of Canadians.

Featuring:

• Amira Elghawaby, Director of Programs, Canadian Race Relations Foundation

• Emily Laidlaw, Canada Research Chair in Cybersecurity Law and Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Calgary

• Raegan MacDonald, Head of Public Policy, Mozilla

• Taylor Owen (Moderator), Beaverbrook Chair in Media, Ethics and Communications and Director and Founder, The Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, McGill University

The event kicked off with an introduction to the Cybersecure Policy Exchange’s new report, Rebuilding Canada’s Public Square, which responds to the Government’s proposal and released the results of a survey of 2,500 Canadians on the experiences and perspectives of Canadians on social media.