Blog post 4-“Should there be limits to freedom of speech?”

Hi! Welcome to my fourth blog post. If you have not read any of my previous posts, I am doing an inquiry project with the question “Should there be limits to freedom of speech?” In this post, I am going to be doing my second round of research to understand the reasons people believe limits for free speech. By looking at examples of there being limitation.

I mentioned this in the last post a little. In Canada, the Criminal Code makes it an offence to publicly incite hatred or promote hatred against identifiable groups (examples being race, religion, gender, etc.). Section 319 shows punishments up to two years’ imprisonment for promoting hatred. These laws are upheld by Canada’s Supreme Court as limits on freedom of expression under the Charter. (3)

In 2020, China’s government made a National Security Law on Hong Kong that criminalizes acts like secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces. These categories of speech are examples of acts now treated as crimes. Authorities use internet platforms/publishers to block or remove content that can be a violation. (4)

During Covid-19, there were around twenty-four countries used legal powers to punish people for sharing alleged misinformation about the virus/government policies. Governments sometimes justified these measures, but human rights groups reported such laws ending up arresting critics, journalists, and activists for reporting and or commentary. (5)