Social media giant Meta signals support for online harms bill

Social media giant Meta says it’s aware of the Trudeau government’s proposed bill that would tackle online abuse and hate and supports the measures.

The company that owns Instagram and Facebook says it supports Ottawa’s attempt to keep children safe online and already has 30 measures available for parents to use to help protect their families.

Following the Liberal’s tabling of the bill on Monday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre released a statement saying that he believes in laws addressing those who sexually victimize, bully and exploit children on the internet.

He added that police and the courts should handle the issues and not bureaucrats.

The tabled bill plans to create a safety regulator and compel social media giants to remove harmful content within 24 hours upon detection.

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The bill does have its critics who believe it is broad and leaves a door open to violate freedom rights, while the federal government has ensured freedom of expression will remain intact.

Despite some critiques, there was plenty of support on Parliament Hill on Monday.

“The idea is to ensure that there is transparency from the web giants about the algorithms they use and the reality is, and the web giants don’t like this, is that it does create a liability for the companies who are often promoting the most vicious, horrific material.” NDP House Leader Peter Julian told reporters outside of the Hill.

Meta is the only of the major tech leaders to socialize support for the new bill. The teams behind Tik Tok and Snapchat say they are actively reviewing the legislation.