Elon Musk slams Canada law that will curb online hate content: 'Sounds insane'

Elon Musk tweeted a news article that said the new law in Canada would give power to the police to arrest anyone who posts hate speech.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk slammed a Canadian law that will attempt to curb online hate content and create stronger online protection, especially for children. Tweeting a news article that said the new law in Canada would give power to the police to arrest anyone who posts hate speech, Elon Musk said, “This sounds insane if accurate! @CommunityNotes, please check.” Community Notes is the X' crowdsourced fact checking service.

Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X Holdings Corp., speaks at the Milken Institute's Global Conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. (AFP)

What is the Canadian bill Elon Musk countered?

The bill is called Online Harms Act and was introduced by the Justin Trudeau-led government on February 26. The government had then said, "The bill would create stronger online protections for children and better safeguard everyone in Canada from online hate and other types of harmful content. It would hold online platforms, including livestreaming and user-uploaded adult content services, accountable for reducing users’ exposure to harmful content on their platforms and help prevent its spread."

The new law will also push for removal of content which “sexually victimises a child or revictimises a survivor and intimate content communicated without consent”, the Canadian government said.

Additionally, maximum sentences for illegal hate speech will also increase as per the new legislation. Citizens will also be able to report discriminatory speech to a human rights tribunal and receive a compensation up to 20,000 Canadian dollars or a fine of 50,000 Canadian dollars, it was reported.