Jun 11 2019 — Elizabeth Thompson — CBC — Ninety per cent of Canadians say they have fallen for fake news online, with many listing Facebook as the most common source of misleading reports, according to a new international public opinion poll. The poll of 25,229 internet users, conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs for Canada’s Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), found that only […]
Jun 6 2019 — Elizabeth Thompson — CBC — Facebook knew as early as 2018 that its platform was being used to incite division and violence, a company official told Canadian MPs on Thursday. Testifying at justice committee hearings into online hate, Kevin Chan, head of public policy for Facebook Canada, said the company realized long before this year’s deadly attack in Sri Lanka […]
Jun 5 2019 — Elizabeth Thompson — CBC — YouTube says it is cracking down on hate speech on its platform, banning videos that promote neo-Nazi ideology or claim that events like the Holocaust never took place. But while the company will begin enforcing its new policy today, it admits that it could take months before all of the content is removed.
Jun 4 2019 — Elizabeth Thompson — CBC — Google says it is working hard to eliminate hate speech from platforms like YouTube, using machine learning to catch problematic online content — sometimes before they’ve been seen by anybody. Testifying today before justice committee hearings on the spread of online hate speech, Colin McKay, head of government affairs and public policy for Google Canada, […]
May 31 2019 — Elizabeth Thompson — CBC — The federal government should boost the penalties for anti-competitive behaviour to more effectively regulate tech giants and the digital economy, says Canada’s competition watchdog. “The maximum penalties for anti-competitive behaviour are, quite simply, not high enough in Canada, meaning we lack the teeth necessary to deter anti-competitive behaviour and promote compliance,” Commissioner of Competition Matthew […]
May 29 2019 — Elizabeth Thompson — CBC — Several federal government departments — including the Canada Border Services Agency, the Correctional Service of Canada and the RCMP — have restricted who can see their job ads on Facebook by age, which could violate Canadian human rights law.
May 27 2019 — Elizabeth Thompson — CBC — Facebook says it will take down accounts that try to interfere with the upcoming federal election and make those attempts public, regardless of whether the federal government decides to advise Canadians of any efforts to interfere. In an interview with CBC News, Kevin Chan, head of public policy for Facebook Canada, said the tech giant […]
May 7 2019 — Elizabeth Thompson — CBC — Parliament’s ethics committee voted Tuesday to subpoena Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg and its CEO Sheryl Sandberg to testify before an international committee of parliamentarians meeting later this month to probe the Cambridge Analytica scandal. While parliamentary committees can compel witnesses to testify, it remains unclear how a Canadian parliamentary committee can force an American tech […]
May 1 2019 — Elizabeth Thompson — CBC — Most of Canada’s 20 most popular websites won’t be accepting political ads or setting up the ad registries called for under new election rules adopted by Parliament. A survey by CBC News reveals that many online operations have quietly decided that it would be too difficult to set up a registry in the two months […]
Apr 16 2019 — Elizabeth Thompson — CBC — A Federal Court ruling in a case that centres on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s controversial vacation on the Aga Khan’s private island in the Bahamas has opened the door to bringing unpaid lobbyists under Canada’s lobbying law. In his 50-page ruling, Justice Patrick Gleeson ordered Commissioner of Lobbying Nancy Bélanger to reconsider her predecessor Karen […]
Apr 11 2019 — Elizabeth Thompson — CBC — Facebook could be hit with a class action lawsuit in Canada alleging that the social media giant has facilitated discrimination in ads for jobs and housing based on factors such as age and gender. The Montreal law firm IMK LLP filed an application for authorization to institute a class action in Quebec Superior Court Thursday. […]
Apr 9 2019 — Elizabeth Thompson — CBC — Employment Minister Patty Hajdu is calling on the Canadian Human Rights Commission to examine how employers use Facebook tools to microtarget job ads at particular age ranges, something experts say could violate Canadian human rights laws. “From my perspective, it’s behaviour that is breaking the law,” Hajdu said on her way into question period Monday. […]
Apr 8 2019 — Elizabeth Thompson — CBC — Facebook is allowing employers — including federal, provincial and municipal governments — to post job ads that target prospective employees in a way that some experts say could violate Canadian human rights law, CBC News has learned. An investigation by CBC News found dozens of employers across Canada posted ads that were microtargeted at specific […]
Mar 18 2019 — Elizabeth Thompson — CBC — Facebook will unveil a series of measures later today in a bid to prevent its platform being used to disrupt the next federal election and to conform with changes to Canada’s election law. The company is currently building an archive of Canadian political advertising that will allow members of the public to view ads that […]
Feb 21 2019 — Elizabeth Thompson — CBC — Former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould was not formally a lawyer in the eyes of the legal profession at the time the decision was made to continue with the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin on charges of fraud and corruption, CBC News has learned. For some, that calls into question her decision to cite solicitor-client privilege in refusing […]