CBC President Previously Asked Twitter to Remove ‘Flow of Hate’ on Platform: Internal Documents

CBC president Catherine Tait speaks during a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on April 3, 2018. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) President and CEO Catherine Tait previously asked Twitter in a private letter to remove certain content on its platform in order to “stop the flow of hate,” according to internal documents.

Tait sent the letter, labelled “Confidential,” in May 2021 to then-Twitter Canada’s managing director Paul Burns concerning what she called “an issue affecting the women and men who work at Canada’s public broadcaster [CBC],” whom she said are “increasingly targeted for harassment and abuse” on Twitter, according to documents obtained by Rebel News through an Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) request.

“In particular, the daily barrage of online misogyny, including threats of physical attack against women, people of colour, and their families, is toxic and terrifying,” Tait wrote in the letter dated May 6, 2021.

“We need your help. We need your commitment to stop the flow of hate on your platforms,” she added.

The CBC president also criticized Twitter’s reporting process for content violating its rules, calling it “haphazard and inconsistent.”

“It can often take days to get a response, and too rarely does your company actually act to take down harassing material,” she wrote. “And most often, it is too late—the harm has been done.”

Tait also referenced legislation soon to be tabled at the time in the House of Commons that aimed to regulate online hate speech by allowing individuals or groups to file complaints with the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

Bill C-36 was introduced in the House about a month after Tait sent her letter, on June 23, 2021, but it lapsed several months later when a snap election was called for September 2021.

Tait also asked to meet with Burns to discuss creating a “clear, effective, and rapid process for removing hateful material targeting journalists” when it appears on Twitter. She said such a process would be an “important step in improving the online world” and for overall “democracy.”

Later in May 2021, CBC sent another letter to Twitter asking that it delete a string of posts published on May 18 containing “highly charged anti-Semitic language.” The name of the letter’s sender was redacted, but it was addressed to Twitter’s legal team.

CBC’s executive vice-president Claude Galipeau sent a follow-up letter on June 9 asking once again that the posts be taken down. Galipeau said CBC had received no reply to its previous letter and added that the posts in question were still on the platform.

‘Offensive Material’

On June 23, 2021, Tait sent a letter directly to Twitter’s co-founder and then-CEO Jack Dorsey, asking for a meeting “to determine how we will ensure that Twitter effectively acts in removing offensive material from its platform.”

Tait said in the letter to Dorsey that she met with Twitter’s representatives in Canada on June 10 concerning the matter, but said the meeting was “unsatisfactory.”

Tait said she was told at the meeting that the posts CBC had flagged as offensive did not actually contravene Twitter’s policies.

“When we asked how we could appeal this decision, we were told to feel free to pursue whatever action we consider appropriate,” she wrote. “Given our business relationship with your company, I found this response not only unhelpful but quite frankly rude.”

Tait also said she would hope Dorsey shares CBC’s concerns about “the degree to which your platform [Twitter] weaponizes the harassment and abuse of journalists and hosts, particularly women and those from racialized communities.”

She concluded the letter by once again referencing Bill C-36, which by that time had been tabled in the House of Commons.

Tait said there was “significant public support” for the legislation. This view differed from the results of Heritage Canada’s online public consultation about the bill, which was conducted not long after her letter to Dorsey.

The consultation, held from July 29 to Sept. 25, 2021, found that about 90 percent of the total 350 individuals who submitted feedback were “unsupportive” of the proposed legislation.

This was according to internal government documents obtained from Heritage Canada through an ATIP request by Canadian lawyer and academic Michael Geist.

“Concerns most cited are those around censorship/freedom of expression,” the documents said.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.