The limitation of misinformation under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

The purpose of this thesis to explore what limitations may exist for s.2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the Charter), the section concerning freedom of expression. Specifically, this thesis is interested in how the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has interpreted this section regarding the dissemination of misinformation. To this end, this thesis examined SCC decisions post-1982 to understand the Justices’ logic when navigating issues of false news. This thesis followed a qualitative, hermeneutic case analysis under the psychological theoretical basis of the “dual-process” theory to best understand a person’s motivation when disseminating misinformation. Doing this, this thesis collected a couple of SCC cases which fulfilled the requirements as laid out in the methodology chapter. The results indicate that SCC is unwilling to use the powers of government to silence statements of misinformation due to the potential chilling effect for a minority population’s freedom of expression. On the other hand, specific wording in the Charter exempts private actors from being bound to the s.2(b), therefore leaving open the possibility of civil lawsuits. This article is scholarly significant as it informs the public discussion regarding private platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat to moderate speech on their platforms. Furthermore, this distinction between civil and criminal action has implications for the range of sanctions available for any potential offender.