Facebook Comments Lead to Criminal Charges in Alberta
3 Comments
Recent Posts
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 248: Mark Surman on Why Canada’s AI Strategy Should Prioritize Public AI Models 
We Need More Canada in the Training Data: My Appearance Before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on AI and the Creative Sector 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 247: My Senate Appearance on the Bill That Could Lead to Canada-Wide Blocking of X, Reddit and ChatGPT 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 246: Mohamed Zohiri on the Rise and Emerging Regulation of Stablecoins 
Senate Bill Would Grant Government Regulatory Power to Mandate Age Verification For Search, Social Media and AI Services Accompanied By Threat of Court Ordered Blocking of Lawful Content
Still don’t get it
I’ve yet to hear a satisfactory explanation for why criminal libel is still an offence in Canada.
My guess – he criticized a cop.
Unnecessary, but tough point to argue
Like copyright law, libel/slander laws are actually unnecessary in that they resolve a problem which would likely resolve itself. In a world without libel/slander laws you’d have, by necessity, a society more critical of what they hear and one’s word would have it’s own reputation. The words of pathological badmouthers would eventually carry little or no creedence.
That being said libel/slander laws just need more check for abuse as even the threat of a trial, whether with merit or not, may silence someone who is speaking truthfully about wrongoing and such. These laws in their current form threaten open, honest, discourse and one’s right to warn their fellow citizens about scam artists and frauds.
Funny, you insult the wrong person, you could go to jail….
Yet have half a town libel in newsprint an innocent man as a murderer and the cops call it “gossip” and wipe their hands of it.