Discussion · Government Orders
Elizabeth May Green
“This bill assumes social media companies must exist as platforms. I want the government to think about treating them as publishers instead. If we treat them as publishers, existing laws would already hold them responsible for harmful things they put online.”
“Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate the hon. member’s speech. The difficulty I struggle with is that even as good as the bill is, there is an assumption that these so-called platforms have a right to exist, that they are a part of our world and we cannot do anything about it. I wonder if the government has given any thought, or whether it would be something the member could take up within the caucus, to how if we did not call them platforms and instead called them publishers, we would have a mountain of common law for what we do when a publisher publishes something damaging. If there is joint and several liability, it is the person who posts something anonymously and the publisher who are responsible. This is a larger question, but I want to pose it now.”
Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate the hon. member’s speech. The difficulty I struggle with is that even as good as the bill is, there is an assumption that these so-called platforms have a right to exist, that they are a part of our world and we cannot do anything about it. I wonder if the government has given any thought, or whether it would be something the member could take up within the caucus, to how if we did not call them platforms and instead called them publishers, we would have a mountain of common law for what we do when a publisher publishes something damaging. If there is joint and several liability, it is the person who posts something anonymously and the publisher who are responsible. This is a larger question, but I want to pose it now.