Backgrounder - Canada's Online Harms Act

On February 26, 2024, the Government of Canada introduced the Online Harms Act, legislation to make online platforms responsible for addressing harmful content.

Intended to create stronger online protections for children and better safeguard everyone in Canada from online hate and other types of harmful content. It would hold online platforms, including livestreaming and user-uploaded adult content services, accountable for reducing users’ exposure to harmful content on their platforms and help prevent its spread.

The Online Harms Act would set out obligations for online platforms, including live-streaming and adult-content services like Facebook, Twitch and PornHub.  Under this legislation, services would be required to make content that sexually victimizes a child and revictimizes a survivor, and intimate content communicated without consent inaccessible in Canada. Services would be required to be transparent with Canadians about how they are working to protect users, especially children and survivors. All users should have the ability to express themselves freely, without the risk of harm and better curate their own online experience with accessible ways of flagging harmful material.

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