00:17:14.020i mean wow i mean wow just cyber bullying town hall is such a crazy catchphrase
00:17:26.200anyway but guys this is important because like look how professional this looks
00:17:33.200look how many how much resources they're putting into this they have a what ctv or cbc panel guy
00:17:39.760um they they are really what the efforts to censor the internet are coming from so many
00:17:48.260different angles and uh they're putting a lot of resources into it which is exactly why
00:17:53.220uh what i'm doing i think is important savefreespeech.ca uh educating people on bill c63
00:18:00.540and really kind of getting into the getting into that topic in general because because they are
00:18:06.540trying to attack it from all sides it's important to understand you know how to how to levy our
00:18:12.900arguments against it to just completely dismiss it because uh it's a fundamental right if we lose
00:18:18.540this one it's going to get a lot harder for people like us hello everyone i'm michael serapio cyber
00:18:25.040bullying and online harassment is on the rise the abuses harassment you heard the man harassment
00:18:31.600... happening through social media, direct messaging, gaming platforms, and perpetrators are using this technology to harass, to threaten, to shame, and to scare their targets.
00:18:44.100Now, in this online harms and cyberbullying town hall special, we are gathering together experts, politicians, representatives of big tech companies,
00:18:52.060and people who have experienced and delved into the realm of cyberbullying and online harm so that we might identify the problem.
00:19:00.200And as we go on in our discussion, perhaps come up with some solutions that we could apply in this country.
00:19:06.400You already know what the solution is.
00:19:08.260Maybe we'll come up with solutions as if I'll put my my house on it.
00:39:10.580Up to 35, 36% of Indigenous youth have been targeted as compared to non-Indigenous youth in this country.
00:39:17.540Callie, could you build as well a bit of what Gord was talking about, or Evan, rather, was talking about in terms of the fact that members of the 2SLGBTQ plus community are oftentimes the target of this harassment.
00:39:27.280hate yeah um we're definitely seeing it um and i think one of the the ottawa capital pride let's go
00:39:36.640let's go speaking of violence i wonder if she commented on uh on this where is it
00:40:11.420The things that's most tangible for me is we see it online and we're seeing it migrate into real life.
00:40:17.360So as you were mentioning, Evan, venues and other stakeholders when you're planning events are now getting threats and those threats are very tangible.
00:40:24.640So we're seeing this online space become very immediate for us at events.
00:40:29.760Immediate for you. Raisa, Children First Canada released a report earlier this year, some sobering numbers,
00:40:34.720because one of the findings was that in the last 10 years, I'm going to read this, online sexual exploitation of children has tripled.
00:40:41.420Talk to us a bit more about those finding and the abuse children are experiencing online.
01:01:59.900This fake seriousness from Evan is like crazy.
01:02:03.180it's it's it's gotten more bad it's gotten more intense yeah it's gotten more intense you got to
01:02:08.300go back to acting classes bro come on and uh we have created this culture of harassers earning
01:02:14.920fame and money for tormenting other people where they can build an audience that eggs them on
01:02:19.840and they go after target after target usually picking on on somebody's identity uh so what's
01:02:24.460new about it is that there are isn't that what the anti-hate network does though you work for
01:02:29.920the Canadian anti-hate network your whole thing is like ragging on people huh rewards and no
01:02:35.800punishments for this kind of behavior uh social norms seem to be breaking down in that people are
01:02:40.300less ashamed to be engaging in this kind of harassment of others I recall when we started
01:02:44.200doing this work if you found out who was behind some kind of far-right awful activity and named
01:02:49.180them and shamed them that would might make them disappear or at least stop that behavior like 70
01:02:52.560of the time I'm just pulling numbers out of my experience here I don't have a poll but if well
01:02:56.460and then here it is cats out the bag this is about the far right this is about right wing
01:03:01.900people doing awful things there you go you think anyone's going to clarify this for the rest of
01:03:07.000this clip no it's gonna it's no no it's the far right doing all of this it's the far right that
01:03:12.780is evil it's the far right that we must do something about that's where the awful stuff
01:03:16.980is coming from as if there can be no hatred coming from the far left as if there can't be
01:03:24.040identifiable groups all collectively hating and shitting on white people hashtag cancel canada
01:03:28.760today it's all part of the same agenda folks feels that that number has gone down that naming
01:03:35.420and shaming of individuals is less effective and people are being incentivized um for doing these
01:03:40.280kinds of harassment campaigns arisa i wonder if you could and once again no specifics they're not
01:03:45.580going to be specific about anything it's just hate it's just talk to us about the the impact
01:03:51.500this abuse actually has on the mental health of young people yeah absolutely so within our report
01:03:56.460we found that about one in five canadian young people experienced cyber bullying and online
01:04:01.820harms and that stats kind of follow with you know they may be experiencing some mental health
01:04:06.220challenges uh whether that be anxiety depression or even greater such as suicidal ideation attempt
01:04:11.420like what maddie had said earlier um and you know young people are struggling because there's been
01:04:15.660an onus on young people to learn more about media literacy and even parents within our report um you
01:04:20.860You know, we found that 65% of them feel not equipped to deal with the cyberbullying that's been happening within their own young people's lives.
01:04:28.000So it's a really tricky thing where, you know, we try to empower young people to learn more about the harms that they may be experiencing,
01:04:34.900but the supports are not there for them to take action.
01:04:38.300Kelly, what would you say about the impact on mental health when it comes to the 2SLGBTQ plus community?
01:04:42.680yeah I think um the 2SLGBTQ community has uh historically um you know been asked to open up
01:04:49.660to come out to be yourself to be authentic and I think um that is very important for us to feel
01:04:55.080free to do so but I think um you know online hate that we see and and cyberbullying is this authentic
01:05:00.280that affects us is this is this um is this guy in the bunny suit being authentic this is the this is
01:05:08.340the gay community this is the gay community coming out and being authentic that's that's
01:05:13.100authentic lgbt expression why are they hating us yeah i wonder i wonder why by keeping ourselves
01:05:22.780secret by keeping more things close to the vest and i think that that feeling of you know you
01:05:28.380can't be your true self uh you can't share um i think that really affects people's people's mental
01:05:33.020health you know in november the canadian mental health association they released a report on the
01:05:37.580state of mental health in this country and they found and really what's happening is right wingers
01:05:41.300are like trying to bring shame back they're trying to make shame a thing of like you should
01:05:45.500probably be ashamed of yourself uh for doing this with a bugs bunny mask on you know the community
01:05:51.240the the gay community should probably check themselves because a lot of people just kind
01:05:57.520of find some of this behavior gross okay uh because it you know you can say anything you
01:06:03.900want shitting on white people but the second that you criticize anyone in the lgbtq plus you're like
01:06:08.700this horrible monster um and yeah that the tides are turning because people are tired of that
01:06:14.940but we got to stop the hate now that mental health is three times worse right now than before the
01:06:20.360covid pandemic they also found that 38 of indigenous people reported their mental health
01:06:24.720as being poor or fair you know josie when we add online abuse and cyber bullying man i can we get
01:06:30.600like a study count here how many studies have been referenced in this like so many studies we got
01:06:37.440another study of the stats that were totally uh construed a specific way to give us the conclusion
01:06:44.760that we wanted to justify our political agenda very cool very cool into this can you talk to us
01:06:51.080about the impact that you're seeing in indigenous communities as a result of this type of harassment
01:11:09.980and gender diverse people of all faiths and backgrounds isn't that great isn't that fantastic
01:11:18.400more and more organizations are pivoting to be able to address that need and provide services
01:11:24.240not only for people who are experiencing online harms and particularly for youth but for the
01:11:28.380trusted communities in their life who might be able trend says but it's an organization that
01:11:31.980supports men yeah exactly yeah yep to help them respond and help them build resilience to this
01:11:38.960kind of hate. But unfortunately, there needs to be resources to support that kind of engagement
01:11:42.740and capacity building. And that's a place where WBC Canada is really calling for change. I think
01:11:47.260the other piece that we have to be cognizant of is, as we've heard a number of times, young people
01:11:51.720and everyone still remain in online spaces and particularly see social media as a place to build
01:11:56.600community and so need to be able to do so safely. And organizations who are supporting that kind
01:12:01.000of community building also need to be able to engage safely in online spaces. And I think there's
01:12:06.120Yeah, see, they're laying the groundwork for Bill C63 here, engaging safely in online spaces.
01:12:11.840So this is the whole argument that until we censor people, they cannot participate in democracy or the online space.
01:12:21.340This stuff is, I'm just getting so, it feels like Groundhog Day.
01:12:26.560There's not quite yet an ability to fill that gap to ensure that service providers and community organizations can be online to support their community in a virtual way and do so.
01:12:36.120safely for everyone they're all just talking they're talking about bill c63 that's all they're
01:12:41.680talking about if there was only a thing that could fill the gap there's only a thing if only there's
01:12:48.820like a piece of legislation spoiler alert they already have one i i can't wait till they first
01:12:56.580bring it up and they're gonna make it seem like it's this organic thing it's this totally organic
01:13:00.360thing oh my god oh my gosh you know i i want to get back to that survey that cpac commission from
01:13:06.520abacus data and you know david coleto is the ceo and the founder of abacus and and among the things
01:13:11.160we asked him to look into was was to just measure what canadians are saying about online harassment
01:13:15.880about cyber bullying sandy klein makes a great point she says many indigenous women and girls
01:13:20.440go missing the internet is vital for sharing info do they talk about that if they restrict it it
01:13:56.520Because like, like what if the content is violent and sexual in nature and it's actual evidence that exposes someone for being evil or bad?
01:14:07.780And like, think about when you see a viral video of someone getting beat up of some outrageous thing happening in public.
01:14:16.020That stuff deserves to be seen so people know it's happening in real life.
01:14:19.940this legislation would give the canadian government the power to take down uh to take
01:14:28.680down content that they don't like and they have a whole smorgasbord of reasons to take down the
01:14:35.000content it's been very it's it's been it's been it's very clear that this canadian government
01:14:45.120will use its power to silence people and silence things they don't like so how are we supposed to
01:14:50.940believe that this legislation won't be used to take down the things they don't like that's bad
01:14:55.240for their reputation that's a bad look there's i mean and all signs all roads all signs point
01:15:02.880towards that based on the thing based on what we've seen based on that the fact they have
01:15:07.340on the board here which is part of a uh explicitly bipartisan organization that
01:16:35.120even the data guy is spouting the exact same rhetoric
01:16:38.320to support Bill C-63 and the progressive politics,
01:16:41.520which is they're they're being targeted for who they are was that in the survey was there a
01:16:46.980question about that in the survey was there a question of like you know being discriminated
01:16:51.940against for your different uh like was white one of the options for being discriminated against or
01:16:56.760was it just my you know like if you design the survey a certain way and this is actually
01:17:01.700specifically how they designed the survey that i took the link is from a way back i think i did
01:17:06.480like two years ago but um it was very clear that you know the far right and white supremacy was
01:17:12.500like hate they basically equated like white supremacy hate uh you know heteronormative
01:17:18.360all of that stuff is like where the hate is coming from like that's how this survey was
01:17:23.460construed so um yeah i just feel like i'm taking laps in a swimming pool full of shit right now
01:17:32.380I feel like I'm taking like watching this video. I feel like I'm just doing laps in and just
01:17:38.160I'm sorry for the graphic example, but that's I'm just letting you know how I feel right now
01:17:43.600live watching this. So David Coletto of Abacus Data. And again, the numbers here, 90 percent of
01:17:48.340Canadians believe there is some problem with online abuse. And in that same survey, 80 percent
01:17:52.680of respondents said cyberbullying was one of the most significant challenges, dangers facing young
01:17:56.840people. You know, Amanda, as you're listening to David there speak, I'm wondering if this backs up
01:18:01.020kind of numbers trend lines that you're seeing with the ywca and as you answer that i'm also
01:18:06.780wondering if you could build on it like where is this actually coming from are we talking about
01:18:09.500social media are we talking about dms are we talking about gaming can you break down where
01:18:13.180this is actually originating absolutely and i think uh without question we're seeing the same
01:18:18.300sort of trends in our own research in our own work at ywca not only in the levels of online
01:18:22.780hate and harm um that young women and gender diverse people particularly those who are um
01:18:27.580members of racialized communities. Young women and gender diverse people.
01:18:34.140These are newcomer communities or 2SLGBTQ plus communities are experiencing, but also that
01:18:39.260overwhelming consensus that this is an issue that people should be taking action on. And what we
01:18:44.060know is that, unfortunately, the harms can originate from any source online. And so social media, I
01:18:48.120think, is one that we have mentioned a number of times. And is it clear? The hate is coming from
01:18:51.980everywhere. It's coming from all sides. At least where we're seeing this harm happening, but it can
01:18:55.940happen um on a myriad of online platforms uh in public conversations in private conversations
01:19:00.740oh my gosh this is news to me people hate each other in conversation oh my goodness
01:19:08.900and there needs to be a sort of nuanced approach to addressing these individual ways that um online
01:19:13.300harm can manifest you know you you mentioned okay so she didn't really answer the question
01:19:16.900she basically said hate can come from anywhere nuance i'm also wondering if you if there's a way
01:19:20.580of nuancing you know the the the source person or organizations and evan i'll ask you to talk about
01:19:25.620that because are we talking about uh an individual the source person or organization okay we're
01:19:31.220getting we're getting warmer here using uh social media or these platforms to abuse are we talking
01:19:35.780about we're going to talk about elon musk bots are we talking about coordinated efforts and
01:19:40.420where if at all is a region targeted um so different platforms vary in how much they have
01:19:48.340created an environment of hate and abuse um and in particular you know these platforms have been
01:19:53.780driven for a long time by profit motive by maximizing engagement at the cost to their users
01:20:00.660now we see you know the evolution of that certain platforms have become much much worse than others
01:20:06.660because some have leaned even further into that and with elon musk's takeover of twitter and x
01:20:11.620we have now seen not just a profit motive behind this very large company but what seems to be an
01:20:17.540ideological motive behind musk replying to white nationalists trying to use twitter to influence
01:20:24.560the politics of the country there so he is okay twitter was in bed with the cia in the previous
01:20:33.700election now twitter is owned by elon musk elon musk is very close friends with trump so it's like
01:20:40.700Like, it was this, you could make that argument, but it was the same before.
01:20:45.540So, and the ideology he's speaking about is freedom, is the Constitution, is free speech.
01:20:53.000But, you know, just hand it to the establishment, progressive, uber-left in Canada to just clutch their pearls over an Elon Musk meme or an Elon Musk reply.
01:36:50.860oh god this guy this guy this guy is like just ridiculous
01:36:56.820the heart of creation and innovation it's just that our aesthetics
01:37:04.260queer people of color have always been the heart of creation and innovation
01:37:15.080it's just that our aesthetics make it onto the runway never our bodies
01:37:18.780we're always the mood boards never the models and so i actually feel like what social media
01:37:25.300has done is created a cage made out of glass, where constantly people say, I see you online,
01:37:33.920but then I ask, why don't you see me on the train next to you? Why don't you see me on
01:37:39.100the runway? Why don't you see me on TV? It's because you still think I'm a freak show.
01:37:45.100And so what social media has allowed is a digital freak show. People scroll and they
01:37:50.540follow and they say wow look at these obscure strange people and they mine us for inspiration
01:37:56.060but it's still another specter of our dehumanization gender non-conforming people of color
01:38:01.900i can't believe people would call this person a freak show i can't believe people would call
01:38:10.780this person a freak show can you imagine calling this person a freak show it's it's just it's just
01:38:17.480like you're an attention whore you know what I mean like so much of it isn't is being an attention
01:38:21.600whore and there's actually stats backing this up guys this isn't me just being a dick this isn't
01:38:26.400just me being provocative you can look this up people who are gender non-conforming and they do
01:38:33.220and they dress up like this they have a personality disorder that's about attention seeking so but no
01:38:41.960but this woman is just like i can't believe people are bullying us yeah i like it's it's
01:38:47.860it's mission impossible for these folks they're like we need to stop the hate and you you have
01:38:52.580you know you have homosexuals addicted to methamphetamines spreading diseases like no
01:38:58.680one's business even inventing new diseases like monkey pox and then people are going to point
01:39:03.640that out and make jokes about it and then it's like we have to stop the hate and it's like no
01:39:07.700you guys just need to be responsible you guys just need to be able to take criticism because
01:39:12.800there's a lot of valid criticism and if you haven't noticed this progressive agenda is all
01:39:17.080about empowering freaks like yourself and uh but but of course they never they never get the the
01:39:24.440especially uh you know detestful or disgusting freak on the panel they always get someone who's
01:39:29.980very proper and it's like okay are you going are you going to defend the behavior of disgusting
01:39:35.660people at the pride parades are you going to defend this no you're just going to ignore that
01:39:40.780your car so you're going to ignore that and then say i care about gay rights and anybody who
01:39:46.560criticizes or gets mad at gays is this horrible person and we need to stop it yeah it's disingenuous
01:39:51.580josey i'm wondering if you could talk to us about supports whether there are any for
01:39:56.120indigenous women and their families who who become targeted or victimized through through online
01:40:01.220Yes, thank you. Currently at Native Women's Association, we do have a program called Safe Passage, and in the program we have a component on cyberbullying and violence and offer safety advice, where to go, resources, how to protect themselves, those kinds of things.
01:40:24.760And so, having said that, we're not reaching anywhere near enough of the folks that we need to.
01:40:31.300One of the research documents that I read just recently said that Indigenous women youth should be researched separately because of our lived experiences, which are different based on the colonial constructs that I previously mentioned.
01:40:45.800And so the research needs to be targeted towards Indigenous women, youth, due to poverty,
01:40:53.320sometimes don't have the resources that are required to keep individuals safe.
01:40:59.320But I do believe that schools have a responsibility.
01:41:02.180IT companies have certainly a bigger responsibility.
01:41:04.220Government has a responsibility to create safer spaces within social media.
01:41:11.380Listen, I'm going to ask you to hold on to those thoughts because we'll continue the conversation.
01:41:14.340But I also want to bring in another statistic, again, from the survey that was done by Apex's data after being commissioned by CPAC.
01:41:20.680And in that poll, they found that 58 percent of respondents said online hate and bullying was a deterrent for qualified people who are considering running for public office.
01:41:29.060Now, we know that politicians from all.
01:41:30.680Let's go. Hatred, working, intimidating people, stopping them from running for office.
01:41:36.020i mean i know someone personally who didn't run for the ppc because they were afraid of the
01:41:41.660professional consequences of associating with the people's party of canada so once again like
01:41:46.840is that is that ever factored in that side the other side no probably not um by the way that
01:41:56.720woman was just talking about uh you know native life and i just thought there's actually a really
01:42:03.720like crazy section of tiktok that's like um jokes about living on the red like on a native
01:42:12.880residence where's the volume where's the volume where's the volume
01:42:19.400there we go that is a big yo bro can i have a cup of water uncle
01:42:29.260I hear you go and I feel real small like your wee nook.
01:54:53.980or if you're seriously like worried about someone might be stalking you or whatever you can you
01:54:59.880know obviously call the police if you have any sort of leads on who this person might be if it's
01:55:04.700a real threat or not or you could even try to hire a private investigator there's a lot of things to
01:55:09.080do but i just really feel like you know looking and reading the mean comments and like commiserating
01:55:14.160about it and panicking is uh yeah i don't think it's a good idea when you start to internalize
01:55:20.820that you not only are that's the second time we've heard that term that i remember internalize
01:55:25.860when we internalize that why are you internalizing it it's a it's a bunch of older folks who just do
01:55:32.920not know how to navigate the internet and they take everything too seriously nice in the bully
01:55:37.740space but you start to dehumanize your liquid gal says stay off your phone then she needs some cheese
01:55:42.920for that wine yeah and the most annoying thing with public officials complaining about this is
01:55:48.640I would love if they covered what these people did as well, because in the case of Christia Freeland, I mentioned it, but like, you know, she is, she is rightfully hated.
01:56:01.720People, people are very justified in, in, in hating this woman in terms of like the, the, the egregious decisions and fumbles she'd made.
01:56:12.200he's made as a public official um and i just feel like that's really really important to the context
01:56:17.760of what we're talking about yourself too and you have no self-esteem left and i mean especially
01:56:24.620i'm not gonna i'm not gonna go into detail here but like especially during covid and stuff
01:56:28.660uh locking people down forcing kids to wear masks forcing people to take a uh untested
01:56:37.900medical product. Yeah, you kind of deserve to be hated. You deserve to be hated. And
01:56:45.440because what you're doing was totally wrong and immoral, and did cause lives. If you want to talk
01:56:51.620about depression and forcing people online, you want to talk about people being depressed and
01:56:55.980being online. Let's talk about all of these lockdown rules that you imposed upon the entire
01:57:01.300country, including children. I can't believe they're depressed online. Yeah, you force them
02:23:28.680This is only a few of the new panelists
02:23:31.620On this round I'm kind of afraid to see
02:23:33.700what else if that's that's the first people we're seeing here director of education with media
02:23:38.520smarts anis busier mcnichol lawyer and director fundamental freedoms with the canadian civil
02:23:43.340liberties association jaden braves ceo and founder of young politicians of canada we rat we reacted
02:23:50.500to this guy once on stream it's cringe he supports bill c63 he doesn't even criticize
02:23:55.160the fact that kids spend 10 hours a day online he's just like yeah we just spend that much time
02:24:00.960online and that's it and the government's going to take care of us anuda dugal executive director
02:24:06.120of women's shelters canada and cynthia ku a technology and human rights lawyer hello to all
02:24:10.760of you like really a mask on both sides let's begin with the premise if someone is being cyber
02:24:15.300bullied and abused online what tools are actually in place to that they might access and i'll begin
02:24:20.660with you matthew there's absolutely nothing there's nothing we need the government to do something
02:24:24.880about it that's going to be the answer because i'm wondering what resources media speed this up a bit
02:24:28.980That's available for someone to understand what they can actually do if they're being victimized.
02:24:32.840We have resources that are based on the research we've been conducting for almost 25 years that help to, first of all, prevent cyberbullying by...
02:24:56.340like come on come on this is supposed to be an snl sketch what is this this is real life
02:25:05.380allowing teachers and parents to help kids develop the essential skills they need
02:25:10.980to manage conflict online to manage their own emotions and to take effective action when they
02:25:16.700witness cyberbullying and these also provide witness i'm a witness i'm a witness to the
02:25:23.160cyberbullying. Tools for kids to use when they experience cyberbullying themselves. They provide
02:25:29.680strategies for dealing with it and options for reporting it and in particular for reaching out
02:25:35.620to different sources of help and support because we know that really that is what's most important
02:25:40.460for young people is feeling that they have support, feeling that they're not alone.
02:25:45.000Feeling that they're not alone. So how important is parental involvement in that fight?
02:25:48.940It's tremendously important. We found throughout our research that having a connection between parents and kids, having an open conversation and having rules in place in the home, not necessarily.
02:26:00.840Wow, I'm actually agreeing with this mask hole right now.
02:26:04.300He's actually making more sense, which is kids should talk to their parents about this and just have an ongoing conversation about how you deal with the Internet.
02:26:15.840rules that are based on punishment, but rules that are establishing routines, that are establishing
02:26:20.940values, and in particular, establishing that kids can come and talk to their parents anytime
02:26:26.320something goes wrong, have a huge impact on how kids behave when they're online and on their
02:26:32.020experience when bad things happen to them, including cyberbullying. You know, Jaden, I think
02:26:37.100you are the youngest panelist being involved in this town hall. So as you hear Matthew talk about
02:26:41.800the types of resources that are available, is that even talked about among young people? Do they
02:26:45.820know or are they sharing information with each other yeah thank you Michael I
02:26:49.900I think as a 16 year old and somebody that's advocating heavily for this work
02:26:53.980on the internet you just have to look at the facts you have to talk to some young
02:26:57.400people and see what's actually going on on the day-to-day on the internet and at
02:27:01.000the end of the day there aren't resources you scroll on your phone you
02:27:04.400listen to what MPs had to say a little bit earlier but you can see there aren't
02:27:08.260phone numbers to call there aren't emails to type and the normalization of
02:27:12.340of exchanging nudes or pornographic content
02:27:15.440or hatred that's totally seen as acceptable
02:27:18.700amongst people my age, amongst people younger,
02:27:20.740amongst people that I see in grade five or six
02:40:02.400And actually, if you want, if you want,
02:40:04.280But if you donate over $25 to the Give, Send, Go, I will make you a personal cameo video for you or for a friend as a Christmas gift, whatever.
02:40:17.340Just put cameo in the donation comment.
02:49:53.140oh god just to offer greater support to those experiencing it is the first step
02:50:01.200So the violence and abuse through technology that people are being affected by is really stopping them from getting access to basic rights.
02:50:13.840They can't use, let's say, online banking if they're using their smartphone.
02:50:17.980That might be a method of multiplying or amplifying abuse, whether it's direct messaging.
02:50:23.520It might be the way that their smartphone, the phones, the messages that they get, the way that they're interacting online.
02:50:32.140And that's a basic right because they should be able to use their smartphone to find housing if they need it.
02:50:36.760They should be able to use it to find employment that they need.
02:50:39.780So it's not realistic to ask people to stay offline or to minimize their interaction with online activity.
02:50:49.580So we need to get away from that kind of thinking and we need to move into absolutely believing that this sort of abuse is happening, understanding the danger of it and having recourse that, as we've said, is not always about the law or the police or bringing charges, but having recourse that makes the abuser responsible to stop in a way that doesn't necessarily make the person who's experiencing the abuse,
02:51:18.460the person has to push for that all the time so i i would say we have to believe people have
02:51:24.740experienced this a lot more and take action immediately and that includes bringing in
02:51:29.740tech companies to take material down jaden i mean the spooky thing about what you just said is like
02:51:35.760we need to believe we need to believe women we need to believe women more often and it's been
02:51:43.500brought up with bill c63 many different aspects of it it could easily be abused by people easily
02:51:50.680be abused by people they called me this they're assaulting me they did this and then reporting
02:51:55.460them anonymously that would be a nightmare so this idea of just believing people uh yeah no
02:52:02.780and what i really don't like what about what she said there is she was kind of like mixing it in
02:52:07.840with like the emotions that you're feeling the emotions that you're feeling and it's again it's
02:52:12.180like there needs to be the line between criminal behavior and violence and things that are just
02:52:19.720annoying and making you emotional like if we don't keep that line intact then we're going down a bad
02:52:25.660road bad bad road let's see what the young guy has to say i think it's about escalation i think
02:52:33.480it's about looking around at what the original motivators are and figuring out how we could
02:52:37.980stop them before that happens so for one education can we standardize the fact that online and the
02:52:44.940internet in general is going to be a really big part of growing up in 2024 you absolutely have
02:52:50.540to be aware of how to use that responsibly uh starting from elementary school but i think on
02:52:56.220the legislative side and that's a lot of the work that we've done when sitting down with uh mps
02:53:01.020working to legislate the internet we have to look at what people have commonalities on what can we
02:53:07.500all agree on what can everybody have a shared experience on and that experience is frequently
02:53:13.820there is hate on the internet we do see it people are impacted by it what are the solutions
02:53:18.780uh the first section of bill c63 is there it is hey ding ding ding ding ding let's go
02:53:27.180bill c63 mentioned 56 minutes in that's kind of surprising
02:53:31.580but uh sorry there it is surprise i i i bet the hosts are going to be like wow bill c63 i've
02:53:41.620never heard of that on the legislative side and that's a lot of the work that we've done
02:53:45.160when sitting down with uh mps working to legislate the internet we have to look at
02:53:51.020what people have commonalities on what can we all agree on what can everybody have the shared
02:53:55.520experience on and that experience is frequently there is hate on the internet we do see it people
02:54:00.860are impacted by it what are the solutions the first section of bill c63 is a really great
02:54:05.080example of how we can break down the vulnerabilities of who's out there and who's actually being
02:54:08.680impacted and what are the what are some of the first steps that we can take to really make sure
02:54:12.660people are safe on the internet but turn it around right this this is this is so contradictory he's
02:54:18.980like we have to accept the reality there is hate on the internet yeah there is that's part of the
02:54:24.600part of the human beings the internet is a reflection of humanity so there's going to be
02:54:29.440ugly stuff there's going to be beautiful stuff everything in between and now it's straight to
02:54:33.600well we have to keep people safe i've heard that one before i've heard that one before
02:54:40.460i remember lockdowns i remember being ostracized from my family i remember not being allowed to go
02:54:48.180to the gym it was to keep people safe i remember being dehumanized by the prime minister of the
02:54:53.960country it was to keep people safe so i remember not being allowed to leave the country or get on
02:55:02.240a train or a plane that was to keep people safe too but this internet legislation it's going to
02:55:07.240keep people safe but this time this time but this time it's going to be a good thing it's totally
02:55:14.000not going to be a tyranny thing totally not going to be a no no no no no none of that you mentioned
02:55:20.580Young people around Canada don't understand that what they're doing is illegal.
02:55:24.440They don't even understand that there are repercussions.
02:56:12.420I'll need to kind of wake up to, in part, as a society to take action on.
02:56:15.500okay well we'll pick up on the online harms bill a little bit later in this town hall but
02:56:20.040uh he's like you gave away the secret bud you gave it away too soon you know we we don't talk
02:56:27.120about the online harms bill yet pit squeak i've been doing this for a while i've been doing this
02:56:32.380word salad game for a while kid don't fuck it up for me okay have heard the criticism that big tech
02:56:39.080and social media platforms are not doing enough to address online harms and cyber bullying and
02:56:44.540In this fall, we heard more Ontario school boards stepping forward.
02:56:47.860They are suing social media platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok for harming, in their point of view, the mental health of children.
02:56:58.160Now, we did speak to representatives of big tech here in Canada.
02:57:01.540They talked to us about what they were doing to address online harm and cyberbullying.
03:04:41.180As someone who's in the front lines of this one with young people, what would you say to whether or not big tech is doing enough?
03:04:47.560Google sold out millions of young Canadians and young people internationally under 18 by allowing Meta to promote downloading Instagram on YouTube,
03:04:57.400which significantly is getting into people under 18, is being put in front of them.
03:05:02.620And those are the same companies that you just watched saying there are these measures.
03:05:05.660So when there isn't the government regulation that's stopping this and people aren't waking
03:05:09.660up to this is happening, organizations, big tech is taking advantage of millions of young
03:05:15.720people vulnerable and on the internet, whether they claim something else, it's what's happening.
03:05:19.080Look at the facts, see what's going on, and then say, are these measures actually doing
03:05:22.800anything or is this virtue signaling to try to get a response to the public and to make
03:05:25.920us not aware of what's actually happening?
03:05:30.660this guy this guy does expose the hypocrisy saying hey look at big tech they say that they're going
03:05:36.760to protect kids online but they're also trying to get them to download instagram on youtube okay
03:05:42.460young man surely you can appreciate um the liberal party of canada and how they promote
03:05:49.940hey the guy promoting bill c63 a referani here's him at the pride parade and he says the online
03:05:56.960Harms Act will protect kids from sexual content. He's at the Pride Parade. This is what happens at
03:06:02.540the Pride Parade. Things like this. This a naked guy with the Bugs Bunny costume on. There's been
03:06:10.120all ages pride events in Canada where there's nudity, where there's pornographic material.
03:06:18.840There's Drag Time Story Hour for kids. There's books in public schools with sexual pornographic
03:06:26.580content. This is all rubber stamped. This is all endorsed and approved, not criticized, not condemned
03:06:32.620by the Liberal Party of Canada. So smart young man, do you really think Mr. Arif Farhani wants
03:06:40.100to protect kids from sexual exploitation when the Liberal Party rubber stamps all of this same stuff,
03:06:46.220all of the same sexual material? You just expose the hypocrisy of big tech. Why won't you expose
03:06:52.940the hypocrisy of the liberal party it's almost like there is a political agenda at play and
03:06:58.600you're just a pawn saying the things trying to be a good young little politician to push this
03:07:05.600bullshit legislation why would you not how can he see the hypocrisy in big tech but not see hypocrisy
03:07:10.640in the liberal party it's very interesting i need something even at this point you know i and you
03:07:16.660said earlier that the laws can't do everything but should there be higher guardrails i think
03:07:22.040there's a possibility and there's certainly room to ask social media operators to have to fulfill
03:07:27.920some statutory duties so for instance having a process in place through which users can flag
03:07:32.640categories of harmful content they already have that I think would be beneficial then even for
03:07:38.400categories of extremely harmful content that for instance content that sexualizes a minor I think
03:07:43.400it's it's acceptable to have even a specific time frame for social media operators to process those
03:07:48.060flags. I do think, however, that we have to avoid asking either explicitly or implicitly
03:07:54.900through laws to social media operators to proactively monitor, surveil, and take down
03:07:59.520speech. Although, you know, Cynthia. Oh, my God, she's actually standing up for speech. Is that
03:08:04.680really? My goodness. Oh, my God, she's doing it. She's standing up for speech.
03:08:10.320Where are those images? What? I guess it's on the other one. Hold on.
03:08:14.420I'll let it keep playing because that raises an interesting question, though, because if we're having a debate as to how to move forward here, do big tech companies have to be more accountable?
03:08:26.240They absolutely do. And to be completely honest, it's a little bit difficult to take the statements that we've heard seriously by this point in time, because right now we're 5, 10, 15 years, almost two decades into having social media as a daily part of our lives.
03:08:38.580and these are multi-billion multinational companies that have arguably shaped elections
03:08:43.460contributed to genocides and but this is the one place where their hands are tied and they can't do
03:08:48.180anything about it and so when did they say they can't do anything about it they were just talking
03:08:54.580about all the different methodologies by which that they they are doing things about it this
03:09:00.420so disingenuous these people even when they try we see deficiencies there too so even though they
03:09:05.700say oh we are addressing hate speech online they it seems to be very selective application of who
03:09:11.060gets thrown the book at them and who is treated with leniency for example women are constantly
03:09:15.940reporting how x formerly twitter has routinely ignored when they report misogynistic abuse um
03:09:22.980human rights watch recently published man i get like this is like being in hell this video is
03:09:29.860like being in hell dude there's no details they're never specific with details she equates
03:09:37.360misogynistic abusive content with rape threats with death threats like is it is this a offensive
03:09:43.580meme that's like anti-women or like makes fun of women because that's free speech making fun of
03:09:50.480women is is a thing that you're allowed to do but you just this keeps kind of just grouping it all
03:09:56.760together is the same thing to report talking about how meta has been systemically censoring
03:10:00.560and suppressing pro-palestinian voices on their platform and yet they are not addressing um
03:10:06.900the really overt low-hanging fruit instances of hate speech i think the bigger question like
03:10:12.340no examples no examples they have no examples it's just so annoying like i'm trying i'm trying
03:10:19.660to give them the benefit of the doubt like show me show me a strong argument but it's just word
03:10:26.480salad after word salad and though is that even if troglodyte said the earth is flat and so is her
03:10:32.800face they were doing everything right we are still then how dare you make a comment like that about
03:10:41.040cynthia chew huh there it is and on the goodwill of a handful of ceos in the world to control our
03:10:53.040online environments and that's just not oh yeah and you want a handful of bureaucrats to do that
03:10:58.560really do you not see the hypocrisy in your argument there do we really want a handful
03:11:04.640of tech ceos controlling our online environment no we want a handful of bureaucrats doing that
03:11:10.160yeah that'd be much better because the bureaucrats in canada have a good track record
03:11:15.520not a tenable system for a healthy online environment and a healthy free and open
03:11:19.200democracy because we've seen what happened with X
03:11:21.300just due to the one ownership change and
03:11:23.200it already had such a huge impact and so that's why
03:11:25.340even though regular again what do you mean like
03:17:29.440So women have to choose. Am I safe in this situation or not safe in this situation? Do I have my location on or my location off? Once again, it's back to individuals to make decisions to keep themselves safe and make them responsible, which is fine up until a point. And everybody should be educated on how to use tech safely. But it's not fine when that's all the responsibility we see.
03:17:50.100Yeah, so this is, again, she's talking about a real valid issue, which is, you know, domestic abuse and how it may get sort of communicated or amplified, like, you know, via technology.
03:18:05.040But this idea that Facebook is going to or Twitter is going to prevent domestic abuse.
03:22:51.440now we have to get all these these facilitations and power as she said this woman said it she her
03:22:57.960eyes lit up she's like now we have the power to see what the kids looked at before they killed
03:23:03.020themselves completely missing the mark in terms of solving the problem and even the solution misses
03:23:09.100the mark on solving the problem you want to collect data after the fact after a kid killed
03:23:14.200themselves what is that solving because you've you've because even if you do collect that data
03:23:19.260You've shown a lack of willingness to solve the problem at its root, which is a child who is isolated, a child who doesn't have a good relationship with their parents, a family, like a community family problem that happens in real life.
03:23:36.680You've shown no willingness to address that crucial part of the problem.
03:23:41.140So why the fuck should anyone believe that you collecting data after the fact is actually going to be applied in a positive direction?
03:55:55.880about having multiple voices and this has gotten a lot of endorsement even from from you know the
03:56:00.680ministers and other stakeholders in government so we want to see this this debate but young people
03:56:07.320also want to see something get passed and even if it's the entire do they do they want to see
03:56:13.800something get passed like it's it is it does remind me of trudeau when trudeau's like canadians
03:56:21.480want this i speak for all canadians and now this young guy is like i speak for all young people in
03:56:27.520canada do you that's crazy talk section of the bill and what the entirety of it means
03:56:36.440something needs to happen in this term in order to have a right doing by canadians just as the
03:56:42.580minister said we need i mean isn't it creepy when you have this young hey i represent young
03:56:48.800young political group by the way i'm excited i'm saying the exact same thing as a referani
03:56:55.880and we're all saying the exact same thing like this this facade that it's like a fair
03:57:02.060discussion and that they're actually grappling with the different issues it's such a look it's
03:57:08.760oh man it's funny it's a it's funny that people might might actually buy into that need to have
03:57:14.680something passed to protect the internet for young people to protect the internet
03:57:19.660for young people uh-huh you know and he said as I said as this is tall there are
03:57:28.920concerns and one of them is the impact this would have on free speech can you
03:57:32.120address that a bit because it's that is a major criticism of the current
03:57:35.680legislation sure and I'll focus my concerns with respect to part one of the
03:57:39.160bill so the online harms act and because of course this is a very lengthy bill
03:57:42.040So with respect to the Online Harms Act, I think what the bill gets mostly right is very specific statutory duties on social media operators to act on very serious types of harmful content.
03:57:53.340For instance, content that sexualizes a child, intimate content shared without consent, things like that.
03:58:00.300Where I think that the bill needs to be improved and amended, frankly, is when it creates very broad and even vague statutory duties on social media operators.
03:58:08.840For instance, the duty to mitigate the risks that users will be exposed to seven categories of harmful content.
03:58:16.360What that really means, well, nobody really knows, because a lot is left to future regulations.
03:58:20.820So I think it's really important to make sure that social media operators do not use this type of duty,
03:58:28.200of statutory duty, and try to comply with it by engaging in proactive monitoring of speech and takedown of speech,
03:58:34.080or by taking down content, flagged content, without even reviewing it,
03:58:38.840or reviewing it but with the help the help of ai artificial intelligence and without any human
03:58:43.640involvement or and without any necessary transparency as to the decision-making process
03:58:48.520which can be particularly problematic when you think of categories that are a lot more subjective
03:58:53.960in nature including hate speech so an easy hey she's our girl she actually came through with
03:58:59.960making some decent points at the very least some of this stuff is too broad some of the stuff is
03:59:06.120going to be figured out later, which is a problem. I wish people would bring up the bullying thing
03:59:10.780though. They actually have in the legislation, bullying a child as content that must be removed
03:59:16.620or that is harmful. And it's like, how do you determine if it's bullying a child? Like that's
03:59:21.440such a broad thing. And I give the example of if I criticize something to do with the gender
03:59:28.420ideology being taught in schools, am I invalidating the existence of trans kids? You could easily make
03:59:34.140that argument and you could say that i'm bullying trans kids because of my content i basically got
03:59:40.220banned on tiktok for uh for you know talking about the trans kid issue my first account at 50k
03:59:48.040subscribers by the way rest in peace first tiktok anyway excuse the word problematic i'm wondering
03:59:54.220from the the human rights perspective uh there's also the concern that because there is a role here
03:59:59.280for the human rights that's so funny that that's i feel like that's so emblematic of how um the
04:00:06.000human rights works right so this woman is like yeah there is free speech issues and it's like well
04:00:11.360let's hear from the human rights person who's going to make up a whole bunch of emotional
04:00:15.600to justify why free speech is actually not important commission that that could
04:00:20.320bog down the whole process can you can you talk about that cynthia absolutely so
04:03:00.880This country is in a bad place right now.
04:03:03.740Nurita, you're nodding your head there to what Cynthia was saying.
04:03:06.580So what do you think we need to see from the federal government, from regulators and lawmakers in this country?
04:03:12.980So I agree that the regulations are one of the places where you can actually bring in some of the voices of those who are most harmed by online behavior.
04:03:24.820That's the other thing that I think is often missing when you are looking at any form of legislation.
04:03:29.020Of course, it's often written in very sweeping ways, but the way it's applied needs to be informed by those who experience that harm, those who are most affected by it.
04:03:38.420And we have to have spaces to talk about that and to share that information and then apply it, implement it, and then measure it.
04:03:48.800Who is now seeing improvements in their life because of any regulations or legislation that's brought in?
04:03:55.340There are other telecoms companies, there are other companies working and acting online, the banks, that have a responsibility also to their own behavior online and how their applications, how their interfaces are spaces that can create harm also.
04:04:11.080And I would like to see them included in this conversation.
04:04:13.820This conversation, as you say, and it is just the start, so thank you to everyone involved there.
04:04:18.420And we will continue to have the conversations in the days, weeks, months and years to come.
04:04:22.040Now, we know that cyberbullying and online abuse is on the rise.
04:04:25.140We also know that it is taking a toll on the mental health of Canadians.
04:04:27.900So if anyone who is watching this, seeing this, is struggling right now as a result of online harm or cyberbullying,
04:04:33.540a reminder that there is a national suicide crisis line to reach for help.