About four-fifths of Canadians believe the government should make porn sites verify their users are 18 or older through a change to the law through the online harms bill, a new poll has found.
A similar majority of respondents in the survey conducted by Nanos Research for The Globe and Mail, published Monday, also said online platforms should be forced to take down hate speech posts within 24 hours.
Neither measures are in Bill C-63, introduced in February to crack down on hate speech online. A private member’s bill bringing in age verification for porn sites, which has now passed the Senate, is supported by the Conservatives, Bloc Québécois and NDP, as well as a clutch of Liberal MPs, though not the government.
The online harms bill would force platforms to remove child abuse images and revenge porn, posted without consent, within 24 hours. It also places an onus on platforms to tackle hate online and creates an ombudsperson and digital safety commission, with new powers, that people can file complaints about posts to.
Bill C-63 also reinstates Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act on hate speech and discrimination, which was removed in 2013 by prime minister Stephen Harper amid fears that it could be used to stifle freedom of expression.
Some lawyers and constitutional experts have warned that allowing complaints to be filed under Section 13 to the Canadian Human Rights Commission over perceived hate speech online could inundate the system and have a chilling effect on free speech.
Canadians are split on whether they trust the government to protect freedom of speech and expression in the online harms bill, according to the Nanos poll.
Thirty-four per cent of Canadians said they don’t trust the government to protect freedom of speech in the online harms act, while 11 per cent reported they “somewhat” don’t trust the government to do so.
Fifteen per cent said they do trust the government to protect such freedoms, while 33 per cent said they “somewhat trust the government” to do so.
Bill C-63 increases the maximum punishment for advocating genocide from five years to life imprisonment. The measure has faced criticism that the maximum penalty is too harsh, but the poll found that two-thirds of Canadians support it.
David Taylor, Justice Minister Arif Virani’s communications director, said the poll “suggests that Canadians understand our intent in proposing the most severe maximum sentence available for one of the most severe crimes one could commit.”
Fifty-six per cent of Canadians said they support or somewhat support greater regulation of the internet by the federal government.
The poll found that 81 per cent of Canadians support forcing online platforms to take down hate speech within 24 hours. But Mr. Taylor said during the consultation process which led to C-63 that “our government heard clearly from Canadians that a strict take-down approach applying to all harms risked creating a chilling effect on speech online.”
Mr. Virani says he is open to considering amendments to the bill, at the committee stage.
Seventy-nine per cent of Canadians are in favour of including measures in Bill C-63 to make porn sites verify their users are 18. Support is higher among women at 89 per cent, compared with men at 70 per cent.
Mr. Taylor said the “current technological solutions” for verifying age “would either subject adults to biometric data collection such as facial scanning or require the uploading of government IDs to pornography sites or third party brokers, both of which have serious privacy risks.”
Nik Nanos, founder of Nanos Research, said the poll showed most Canadians are conscious of the harm done by hate online. They view online platforms as “enablers and amplifiers” of hate, he added.
“For average Canadians, what they know is that as soon as something that is harmful is released into the public domain, if it doesn’t get stopped quickly, it will never get stopped,” Mr. Nanos said.
The Bloc Québécois has indicated it is looking at an amendment to the bill to include age verification for porn sites. Support for the measure is highest in Quebec, with 82 per cent in the province, the poll found.
Sol Friedman, a partner at Ethical Capital Partners – a Canadian Private Equity firm that owns adult sites including Pornhub – has said it supports age verification but at “device level” when people are buying a new device or updating software.
Mr. Taylor said the Justice Department shares “the concern of parents who want to limit children’s exposure to pornography sites.” But he said an age verification system preventing minors accessing porn while protecting privacy rights “presents significant challenges in light of the current technology available.”
The hybrid telephone and online poll of 1,069 people, conducted between March 31 and April 1, has a margin of error of 3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.