Carney government’s online harms bill won’t specifically target pro-suicide websites - Toronto Star

The acknowledgement comes after Kenneth Law faced a sentencing hearing last week to counselling or assisting 14 suicides in Ontario.

A photo of Kenneth Law, an Ontario man accused of selling a deadly substance online, is shown during a news conference in Mississauga on Aug. 29, 2023.

OTTAWA — A proposed Canadian law would penalize social media platforms for failing to crack down on content that promotes self-harm and disordered eating to a child.

But what if that child went elsewhere on the internet, and found a pro-suicide forum offering advice on how to take their own life?

“It’s hard to speculate on what would and wouldn’t be done. I think there’s some clear things that would be covered” under the law, said Culture Minister Marc Miller, who introduced the Carney government’s Safe Social Media Act back in June.

“But there are other forms of harms online that are occurring that this law will not deal with.”

Miller’s admission that the Liberals’ bill may not be able to capture all online dangers comes after a sentencing hearing last week for Kenneth Law, a 61-year-old Mississauga man who pleaded guilty earlier this year to counselling or assisting 14 suicides in Ontario.

Law, who sold a food preservative online that can be fatal if ingested in high doses, has also taken responsibility for 79 deaths in the United Kingdom. According to an agreed statement of facts, Law sent 1,209 shipments to more than 40 countries, and, in some cases frequented a pro-suicide forum where he promoted his products and provided instructions related to their use. His youngest U.K. victim was 14, while two Canadian youth were 16.

“You may one day regain your freedom, Mr. Law, but you will never erase the consequences of what you did.”