UK-Style Convictions for Online Posts Possible in Canada, Lawyers Say

Published on August 29, 2024

A UK woman recently received a sentence of 15 months in prison for a Facebook post under the country’s new Online Safety Act, legislation that is similar in many ways to Canada’s proposed Online Harms Act. The UK law, enacted in 2023, will come into full effect next year, but the part relating to “false and threatening communications” came into effect Jan. 31 this year and is already being enforced. Two men also received prison sentences, one of 20 months and the other of 38 months, for their online comments related to recent rioting across the UK, which centred on the issue of immigration. Judges ruled that they were guilty of “the stirring up of racial hatred” as defined in the Public Order Act of 1986. So it’s not only the new Online Safety law that has led to jail time for social media posts....

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