NEW YORK (LifeSiteNews) — Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly announced the release of a declaration signed by multiple countries that calls on each nation to combat online “disinformation” by using legislation if needed to enact “global norms” to fight “misinformation.”
The “Global Declaration on Information Integrity Online” was launched by Joly alongside Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Hanke Bruins Slot in New York at the United Nations General Assembly on September 20.
According to a joint statement by Canada and the Netherlands, “Information integrity is essential to help ensure the strength of democratic processes and to protect fundamental rights.”
The statement reads that the “erosion” of information integrity, “including the propagation of disinformation,” weakens the “strength of democratic engagement.”
Since first taking office in 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party have pushed a radical agenda that has targeted free speech on the internet.
The recent declaration comes only shortly after the Trudeau government forged ahead with its own ways to combat “disinformation” through the passage of internet censorship bill C-18. The controversial “Online News Act” has been described as “Orwellian” by critics.
Speaking about the declaration on September 20, Joly said that it is a “concrete step toward establishing global norms on disinformation, misinformation, and information integrity.”
Bruins Slot said about the declaration that “every day” the world is “flooded” with “flooded “disinformation and misinformation” and that technology such as AI has made it more “difficult to tell fact from fiction.”
A total of 30 counties signed the declaration, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany.
The declaration claims that there is a need to “address the erosion of information integrity online,” due to the spread of “misinformation and disinformation campaigns by state and non-state actors.”
“We are at a global inflection point where taking action to protect the digital information ecosystem is necessary to preserve safe and productive online environments and continue to enjoy the benefits the digital age provides,” the declaration reads.
Declaration obliges counties to overreaching means, including passing laws, to combat ‘disinformation’
To combat the “disinformation,” the declaration states that there are a set of “high-level international commitments by participating States to protect and promote information integrity online,” which it claims are “grounded in international law.”
Additionally, the declaration says that “participating states, are committed to” promote and “respect pluralistic media and journalism and protect access to media content as one measure to counter disinformation.”
It adds that more “steps” are needed to “address misinformation and disinformation targeted at women, LGBTIQ+ persons, persons with disabilities and Indigenous Peoples.”
Notably, the declaration states that “participating states,” to achieve the goals of the document, can resort to using “necessary and appropriate measures, including legislation,” to address information “integrity and platform governance, in a manner that complies with international human rights law.”
Under Trudeau, Canada has seen freedom of online expression become more regulated.
Canada’s Senate passed the Online News Act, or Bill C-18, in June and it quickly became law. This new law forces social media companies to pay Canadian legacy media for news content shared on their platforms.
Some Canadians may be surprised to learn that Bill C-18, while formally enshrined in law, is not yet in effect, especially considering Big Tech company Meta – the parent company of Facebook and Instagram – has already begun blocking news content on their platforms from being viewed by Canadians in anticipation of the enforcement of the bill.
As pressure mounts against Trudeau, he has tried to deflect blame on social media giant Meta, saying it is the Big Tech company’s fault Canadians cannot access news via Facebook and Instagram. Just last week, Trudeau demanded that Meta allow wildfire news to be shared on its platforms, even though it is because of his government’s own bill that Meta began blocking the news in the first place.
Recently, LifeSiteNews reported about how the Trudeau government is looking to have the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) enforce upon all broadcasters woke and pro-LGBT “Equity, Diversity and Inclusion” (EDI) requirements.
Besides the Online News Act, the Trudeau government passed another internet censorship law, Bill C-11, in May that will allow the CRTC to in effect regulate YouTube and Netflix.
In practice, Bill C-11 now mandates that the CRTC oversee regulating online content on platforms such as YouTube and Netflix to ensure that such platforms are promoting content in accordance with a variety of its guidelines.