IFA writer Lori Meed experienced Canadian censorship firsthand and reports on the disturbing laws there:

While visiting my mother in Canada in October 2023, I became aware that my Facebook page had been frozen, not by Facebook but by the Canadian government. A friend informed me that I was in what I like to call ‘Facebook Jail’ for posting on issues like Israel from sources outside of Canada. Yes, you read that correctly.

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In early 2023, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government  passed Bill C 18 — the News Net Act — which aimed to force Google and Meta to pay news outlets for their content. Google and Meta responded with blocking all news that was not Canadian-approved. The result? Digital censorship preventing Facebook and Instagram users in Canada from viewing news from outside of Canada on their feeds. My trouble came when I began to post about the Israel-Hamas war using news sources from within Israel.

Canada’s Minister of Justice Arif Virani is also the Attorney General – look at that conflict of interest! He is proposing the Online Harms Act with the stated aim to ‘protect children from online predators.’ But the language of the bill says: ‘protect against hate speech, terrorist content and violent material on the internet.’ Conservative leaders say that the prime minister and his government should not be deciding what constitutes ‘hate speech.’ Conservatives see this bill as an ‘attack on freedom of expression.’

Read this article and pray for freedom of speech and for Canada — our ally and friend to the north.

From CBC. The Liberal government is proposing “draconian penalties” in the Criminal Code as part of its sweeping plan to target online hate, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association warns.

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Justice Minister Arif Virani tabled the long-awaited bill earlier this week, billed as a way to address dangers that children face online.

It also includes the introduction of stiffer penalties for hate offenses.

The bill proposes increasing the maximum punishment for advocating genocide to life imprisonment, and allowing sentences of up to five years in prison for other hate propaganda offences. …

Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, its executive director and general counsel, said in an interview Wednesday she sees significant liberty issues throughout the bill.

There are problems, too, with the proposal for a digital safety commission that would be given sweeping powers to regulate social-media giants, she said.

When it comes to hate speech offences, she said she’s concerned because of the difficulty of distinguishing between “political activism, passionate debate and offensive speech.”

To address such concerns, Virani has said the government is seeking to clarify the definition of hatred to reflect Supreme Court rulings on the matter.

It will be newly defined as “the emotion that involves detestation or vilification” that is “stronger than disdain or dislike.”

The bill also says that a statement that “discredits, humiliates, hurts or offends” would not meet the bar to be considered promoting or inciting hatred. …

Jewish advocacy groups have welcomed the proposed changes, citing a sharp rise in antisemitism since the Israel-Hamas war began last fall.

What do you think of this bill? Share your thoughts and anything the Lord is revealing to You.

(Excerpt from CBC. Photo Credit: sebastiaan stam on Unsplash)