Okay, I'm super excited to get going on this new game, guys.
I'm seeing a lot of good reviews for it.
I'm also seeing a lot of comments come in.
So let's just take a quick look before I start.
- ♪ ♪ - [digital pop]
Okay, Edgelord77, let's try to keep things positive
in the comments.
- ♪ ♪ - [digital pop]
Oh okay, why would you even type that?
- ♪ ♪ - [digital pop]
Okay, no one--just no one look at that most recent comment.
It's awful.
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Okay, you know what?
That's enough.
Your banned, and so are you.
- [digital pops] - And so are you.
♪ ♪
Okay, so you've probably heard about people getting banned
on social media--
--and when that happens, we hear a lot of conversations
about free speech.
- [digital pop] - So what is it?
Can you really just say whatever you want without consequence?
And how does it work in Canada?
This is:
Everyone is talking about free speech these days.
Take all the headlines about Twitter, for example,
from Elon Musk's free speech agenda
after taking over the company
to prominent people like Kanye West, Donald Trump
and Andrew Tate being banned.
And that's just a few examples.
But what are we really talking about when we say:
♪ ♪
Sophia Storm: Let's start in 5th Century BC, Athens.
The ancient city had two concepts:
Isegoria translates to "equality of speech,"
including the right of the citizens of Athens
to address the democratic assembly of the city.
Parrhesia translates to a more casual freedom of expression,
the idea that you can say what you want,
how you want to whoever you want.
Let's jump forward to 1791 in the United States.
That's when--
--freedom of speech, press and religion
were added as an amendment--
--to the Bill of Rights, making it law.
♪ [harp strummed] ♪
But what exactly does it mean?
Free speech, at its most fundamental definition--
--is the idea that we all, as individuals,
have the ability to express ourselves
without anyone telling us what we can say
or what we can't say.
So it's in the Bill of Rights in the US,
but what about Canada?
It is something that is protected by Canadian law.
So it's protected by the Canadian Charter,
Section 2B, which--which gives everyone
a protected constitutional right to:
This applies to all Canadians, kids and adults alike.
I guess that means anyone can say whatever they want in Canada
and nothing and no one can stop them, right?
Molly Krishtalka: No, there--it's--it's not absolute.
Nothing is ever absolute.
There's always this idea because we live in a society--
--that we have rights up until the point
where our rights bump up against someone else's rights.
And once you start bumping up against someone else's right
then--then you're right is limited.
Okay, so limits on free speech;
sounds like it kind of goes against
the whole "freedom" thing.
What's the deal?
I don't think it goes against the core idea of freedom.
The limits that we set are based on the other rights--
--that the Canadian Charter protects.
Other limits that have been set are where--where you want
to do something that, for example,
harms someone's privacy rights,
or if you want to express yourself in a way,
but it harms someone's right to be presumed innocent,
if they're--if they're accused of a crime,
those can also be limited.
Sophia: The limits on free speech can include things
like hate speech, which is when someone is saying something
against a group of people that is likely
to incite hatred against them, which is then likely to lead
to what is called a:
Or declamation, which is when someone says, writes--
--or expresses something about another person
without excuse or justification that is likely to damage--
--that person's reputation.
Okay, so back to the whole social media thing;
is that these limits that get people like Jordan Peterson
or Andrew Tate banned?
It doesn't really apply to those platforms
because the Canadian Charter only--only protects--
--individuals when they interact with the government.
Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, these are all private companies
and so they don't have to respect the Charter.
That's not something that is binding on them.
So Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson
can say what they want on Twitter,
but then Twitter can ban them
and their right of freedom of speech has not been violated,
at least according to the Canadian government.
[digital chime]
Okay, I really want to get going on this game,
but I'm seeing everyone talk about free speech
and the people I've banned.
Let's get it straight so we can get back to gaming.
This platform is owned by a private company.
You can say what you want on the chat,
but this ultimately is my stream and that gives me the right
to decide who can watch, and who can't.
Rude and offensive comments will be deleted
and anyone who does that will be banned.
Make sense?
Think about it like this:
In Canada, you are free to say whatever you want,
but you are not free from the consequences
of what you say.
That's it for KN Explains.
For
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