In December 2018, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics issued a report entitled “Democracy Under Threat: Risks and Solutions in the Era of Disinformation and Data Monopoly.”
Its recommendations included transparency obligations requiring platforms to establish online political advertising databases disclosing information such as who financed particular advertisements.
The Committee also made content-based suggestions, e.g. imposing a duty on social media platforms to: label bot-produced content, find and take down fake accounts imitating people “for malicious reasons,” and label advertising. Fulfilling this duty would also entail compliance with a code prohibiting “deceptive or unfair practices” and compelling “prompt responses to reports of harassment, threats and hate speech and require the removal of defamatory, fraudulent, and maliciously manipulated content (e.g. ‘deep fake’ videos).”
It further recommended an obligation “to remove manifestly illegal content in a timely fashion, including hate speech, harassment and disinformation, or risk monetary sanctions commensurate with the dominance and significance of the social platform, and allowing for judicial oversight of takedown decisions and a right of appeal.”