Discussion · Government Orders
Chris Bittle Liberal
“We need to send this bill to committee quickly. Free speech is important, but social media algorithms control what our kids see. These companies will not protect children on their own, because child deaths have been part of their business model. A committee can improve the bill, but we must act fast.”
“Mr. Speaker, to be honest, I am envious of the hon. member, and I hope I can find a way to jump my kids to that point through these difficult times. The member keeps talking about free speech, which is fundamentally important and protected by the charter. To paraphrase, I think it was Jon Stewart who said that social media is to free speech like twinkies are to food. It is highly processed garbage. The algorithm is controlling what we see and what our kids see. We cannot just wave this away as free speech and hope the social media companies will do the right thing, because we have seen, for too many years, that dead kids are okay to them and part of their business model. The committee will meet and do important things. Amendments will be made, and we will get to the best possible legislation we can, but we need to get the bill there as quickly as possible.”
Mr. Speaker, to be honest, I am envious of the hon. member, and I hope I can find a way to jump my kids to that point through these difficult times. The member keeps talking about free speech, which is fundamentally important and protected by the charter. To paraphrase, I think it was Jon Stewart who said that social media is to free speech like twinkies are to food. It is highly processed garbage. The algorithm is controlling what we see and what our kids see. We cannot just wave this away as free speech and hope the social media companies will do the right thing, because we have seen, for too many years, that dead kids are okay to them and part of their business model. The committee will meet and do important things. Amendments will be made, and we will get to the best possible legislation we can, but we need to get the bill there as quickly as possible.