The Democracy Fund is voicing concern that the government's study on misinformation will be used to restrict free speech.
The Canadian government recently announced the results of a study entitled "Concern about misinformation—connections to trust in media, confidence in institutions, civic engagement and hopefulness, 2023/2024."
The study purported to investigate online "misinformation." It defined "misinformation" as "news or information that is verifiably false or inaccurate." However, this definition is circular, since the phrase “verifiably false or inaccurate” just rephrases what misinformation by definition already is - a falsehood that can be checked.
Building on this flawed premise, the study attempts to associate the concern for "misinformation" with less trust in institutions and media. It claims that Canadians reporting lower levels of concern about misinformation tend to trust institutions like the justice system and courts more, compared to those who are more concerned. It also notes that concern about misinformation was associated with lower levels of hopefulness about national unity.
The study positions the increase in online "misinformation" as a problem that needs solving, presumably by government intervention. However, the study fails to consider whether the lowered trust in institutions and media might be a rational response to lower trustworthiness exhibited by institutions and media.
Canadian courts have previously dealt with attempts by the government to censor false information. In 2021, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice reviewed a law in the Canada Elections Act that banned people from knowingly making or sharing false statements about a candidate's character during an election if it was meant to influence the election results. The court ruled that this law was unconstitutional because it did not meet the minimum requirements under the Charter.
Before 1992, section 181 of the Criminal Code prohibited "wilful publication of false statements or news that a person knows is false where it was likely to cause injury or mischief to a public interest." However, in R. v. Zundel, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that this law was unconstitutional, holding that unless the law serves a significant purpose that justifies limiting free speech, which s.181 did not, it cannot be justified under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Litigation Director for TDF, Mark Joseph, said: "Canadians do not need governments acting as gatekeepers of truth, particularly when it concerns political, social or moral issues: individuals are just as, or more, capable than government bureaucrats to determine whether to believe a piece of information or not. This is a solution in search of a problem, where the solution proposed by the government is almost always "more government."
About The Democracy Fund:
Founded in 2021, The Democracy Fund (TDF) is a Canadian charity dedicated to constitutional rights, advancing education, and relieving poverty. TDF promotes constitutional rights through litigation and public education and supports an access to justice initiative for Canadians whose civil liberties have been infringed by government lockdowns and other public policy responses to the pandemic.