USMCA writes new rules for online content

OTTAWA — The newly released North American trade pact could prevent large websites from having to quickly take down questionable material in what is being seen as a potential victory for freedom of speech online.

The digital trade provisions in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement include wording that doesn’t hold internet companies liable for content posted from third parties such as users, essentially arguing the company is not the publisher, just the host.

Digital policy expert Michael Geist said such safe harbour rules haven’t been part of the Canadian landscape, which is why content such as critical, over-the-top restaurant reviews are more swiftly removed in Canada than in the United States.

The wording is a first for the North American trading partners and could set the stage for it to be embedded in Canadian law, said Geist, the Canada Research Chair in internet at the University of Ottawa.

“This, I think, is actually a good provision. It helps freedom of expression online, it provides some amount of a safe harbour for internet companies that try to do the right thing by removing content in appropriate circumstances and it’s the sort of thing that Canadian law has been missing,” Geist said in an interview.

The three trade partners heralded the agreement-in-principle, which still has to be ratified by all involved, as a major step forward to deal with issues that were in their infancy when the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed a quartercentury ago.

The digital-trade provisions could also limit geographical restrictions on where data is stored and roll back requirements that companies wanting to do e-business have a physical presence in a particular jurisdiction.

Still, the agreement also gives governments an out, allowing for exceptions for provincial governments that want to keep patient data stored in their jurisdiction.