On last night's episode of The Ezra Levant Show, The Democracy Fund's Senior Litigator Mark Joseph discussed the Liberal government's changes to the Online Harms Bill and what this could mean for freedom of expression.

After significant backlash from free speech advocates and a deadlock in Parliament, Justice Minister Arif Virani declared on Wednesday that the Online Harms Bill will be split into two parts.

The focus of the first bill, he claims, will be on protecting children from online exploitation and sexual predators. The second bill, Virani says, will focus on policing 'online hate.'

Arif Virani has announced he will divide his censorship legislation, Online Harms Bill C-63, into two parts to expedite its passage through Parliament.

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However, Joseph explained why the justice minister may still be quietly attacking freedom of expression, even in the initial bill. "Most civil libertarian groups, particularly TDF, had no problem with the child protection provisions under the bill," Joseph said.

"But the problem is it's a trojan horse because he's a bit cagey. Part one includes seven types of harms, and four of those deal with child protection...but three involve 'incitement to violence,' 'incitement to violent extremism and terrorism,' and 'content that foments hatred.' And those are still in part one," he said.

Joseph elaborated on how even with the Liberals splitting the bill into two parts, it's quite possible they could quietly sneak in provisions that could harm freedom of expression.

"In some reporting, I see that he's still proceeding with the harm that deals with 'hatred,' and that's so overbroad that it's going to capture a lot of online content, and there's no exemption for reporting or journalism," he said.

In a statement to the Toronto Star, Conservative justice critic Larry Brock said the justice minister is "desperately trying to salvage his deeply flawed legislation."

Brock added: “We will repeal Trudeau’s draconian censorship laws and bring home protection of children and Canadians online while protecting the rights and freedoms of Canadians.”

Please donate to help Rebel News fight back against Justin Trudeau's draconian censorship regime!

The Liberals still say they’re committed to bringing in censorship. Bill C-63 would create unprecedented censorship agencies, investigate your online posts, and even impose hate speech restraining orders before words are spoken. Rebel News has fought Trudeau’s censorship in courts across Canada, spending over $500,000 on free speech lawyers this year alone. To protect freedom of speech, we’re ready to challenge this law the moment it passes. If you believe in standing up to this censorship, please chip in to our legal defence fund and join the 75,000+ Canadians who have signed our petition. We have to fight this — if we don’t, the law will be used to silence us, and to silence you, too.

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