A few days ago, Facebook censored a post by an Australian independent think tank for sharing a post that said men can’t get pregnant.
Facebook removed the post from Women’s Forum Australia, saying it “goes against our Community Standards on dangerous individuals and organizations.” It also warned the page forum’s page was “at risk of being unpublished” and has had “reduced distribution and other restrictions due to continued Community Standards violations.”
Facebook refused to reconsider the issue, saying the decision to axe the post was final.
Days later, when Australian media reported on the issue, Facebook changed its mind, saying it had been a mistake.
That was a single post. In 2020 Facebook took down more than 13 million posts for violating its policies on organized hate and hate speech. It removed a million groups for breaking its rules. Last year Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the social media giant had removed 18 million posts with “misinformation about COVID-19.”
Presumably many of those posts would now be allowed in light of growing information about COVID.
The willingness of social media giants to remove content that disturbs them is matched only by governments that are eagerly readying to intensify control over citizens’ speech and activities. Last federal election the Liberal Party said it planned to target groups “that provide dishonest counselling to women about their rights and about the options available to them at all stages of the pregnancy.”
Lest anyone think the government was only speaking to its base, consider its targeting of pro-life organizations in the Summer Jobs controversy, when the government in 2018 made a controversial attestation required for its summer jobs program, forcing groups to endorse supposed Charter rights like abortion.
If the Trudeau Liberals haven’t gotten around to cracking down on pregnancy clinics yet, it’s only because they’re busy addressing the broader issue of online speech with proposed internet censorship legislation.
The federal government has introduced Bill C-11, the “Online Streaming Act,” which would allow the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to regulate and censor user-generated content on the internet.
Companion legislation Bill C-18 (the “Online News Act”) would force tech companies to pay news outlets for sharing government-defined Canadian content.
Both of these proposed laws should concern Canadians very much given the background of the government that is pushing them, and they should be of particular concern for Catholics and everyone who takes their faith seriously.
This is a government that has been quick to shut down anything it considers propaganda. It has banned “conversion therapy,” forced student summer jobs to be abortion friendly, and called pregnancy centres “dishonest.” How long will it be before Catholic teaching on everything from the sanctity of life to the theology of the body is labelled hate speech. And with tech giants, mainstream media, and government linked arm in arm in arm, a decision by one will be a crackdown by all.
If the pandemic has made anything clear, it’s that Canadians don’t trust the government or the media to determine what information they receive. Just when churches have become comfortable and adept at offering online Masses and other content, Bill C-11 would put any parish’s YouTube feed under the control of government. The same with its webpage and social media.
Jay Goldberg of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation calls the legislation “not only dangerous, but also unnecessary,” saying existing laws are capable of regulating online hate speech, defamation, and child pornography.
John Carpay, president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, says the Online Streaming Act is “a significant and dangerous first step towards government control of the internet” at a time when Canadians are witnessing their government taking a more authoritarian stance on everything.
Freedom of expression and religion is our first Charter right. Our Members of Parliament need to hear that it’s one we value.
