Michael Geist

Leadership = Memorial University (@MemorialU), which has adopted a statement on institutional neutrality, ensuring it “does not take positions on current issues, but rather celebrates diversity, encourages open discourse and respects independent viewpoints.”
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Why the Online Harms Act is the Wrong Way to Regulate AI Chatbots - Michael Geist In the wake of reports that AI Minister Evan Solomon may press AI companies such as OpenAI to more aggressively report potential safety risks identified in private chats to law enforcement, attention ...

Citing earlier pushback to mandatory monitoring and reporting proposals, @mgeist.bsky.social outlines why folding AI chatbots into the government’s most recent Online Harms framework could repeat many of the same policy pitfalls www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/03/why-...

When you don’t want to do anything, launch a study. There have been repeated studies and reports on Canada’s failed access-to-information system and no shortage of proposed solutions. What has been lacking has been the cross-party political will to act.
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Why the Online Harms Act is the Wrong Way to Regulate AI Chatbots - Michael Geist In the wake of reports that AI Minister Evan Solomon may press AI companies such as OpenAI to more aggressively report potential safety risks identified in private chats to law enforcement, attention ...

It isn’t surprising to see mounting pressure to use the online harms bill to regulate AI chatbots. But it’s the wrong approach: the bill was about social media amplification and deliberately designed to exempt private communications and proactive monitoring.
www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/03/why-...

As a general rule, governments shouldn’t bury anti-privacy reforms to the Canada Elections Act in an affordability measures bill, ignore the advice of Canada’s Privacy Commissioner, or block all efforts to study the effects of the bill on the privacy rights of Canadians.
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Toronto synagogue struck by gunfire, police investigating Toronto police are investigating after a synagogue in North York was struck by gunfire late Monday night.

I will never understand how we have reached the point in Canada where synagogue shootings have become so common that they fail to shock. Yet many politicians still stay on the sidelines and those who regularly speak out on social justice remain silent.
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More Transparency Not Police Reporting: Navigating the Safety-Privacy Balance for AI ChatBots - Michael Geist My Globe and Mail op-ed begins by noting that AI Minister Evan Solomon summoned executives from OpenAI to Ottawa last week to explain why the company declined to alert police that it had flagged the a...

Holding someone responsible for the potential prevention of the Tumbler Ridge tragedy is understandable. But lowering standards for AI chatbots to report private posts to police creates its own risks, undermining privacy and increasing corporate surveillance.
www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/03/more...

We’re thrilled to unveil the speaker lineup for our March 11th breakfast panel: Canada’s AI Strategy: Reading Between the Lines of “What We Heard.”

Expert speakers: Katie Preiss, Brent Arnold, Erin Kelly, Michael Geist, and Jaxson Khan.

Secure your spot: tcis-canada-ai-consult-telus.eventbrite.com

The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 259: The Privacy and Surveillance Risks of AI Chatbot Reporting to Police - Michael Geist Over the past ten days, Canada has witnessed one of the fastest-moving technology policy debates in recent memory. What began as reporting about a tragic act of violence – the shootings in Tumbler Rid...

What began as a tragic act of violence, has evolved into questions about AI safety, police reporting obligations, and future regulation. My Law Bytes podcast focuses on the potential policy responses and why the Online Harms Act is poorly suited to this problem.
www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/03/the-...

Opinion: AI needs more transparency and clearer standards – not more reporting to law enforcement Forcing AI chatbots to turn over conversations would undermine privacy and lead to heightened corporate surveillance

My @theglobeandmail.com op-ed where I argue lower standards for AI companies to report to police what users privately post creates its own risks, undermining privacy and encouraging corporate surveillance. Need more transparency and standards, not reporting.
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Nobody Wants This: Senate Rejects Government’s Anti-Privacy Plan for Political Parties By Sending Bill Back to the House With a Sunset Clause - Michael Geist Faced with a bill that would leave political parties subject to weaker privacy rules than virtually any other major organization in Canada, the Senate voted yesterday to amend the bill by including a ...

Faced with a bill featuring embarrassingly weak political party privacy rules, the Senate has voted to amend Bill C-4 by adding a sunset clause that gives the government three years to come up with something better. The bill now heads back to the House.
www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/02/nobo...

Exclusive: US orders diplomats to fight data sovereignty initiatives Trump's administration has ordered U.S. diplomats to lobby against attempts to regulate U.S. tech companies' handling of foreigners' data, saying in an internal diplomatic cable seen by Reuters that s...

Coming clash: U.S. orders its diplomats to counter data sovereignty rules. EU's GDRP cited as example of "unnecessarily burdensome data processing restrictions and cross-border data flow requirements." If so, Canadian privacy reform guaranteed to face US backlash.
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Senators plan to rebuke government for adding unrelated policy changes to tax-cut bill Upper Chamber stopped short of blocking the government’s effort to include rule changes for political parties in an affordability bill

Government pushing through Bill C-4 anti-privacy rules that it barely acknowledges with Senate “rebuking” but caving, shows why the bill is so harmful. Given a choice between political benefit and Canadians’ privacy, the parties take self-interest every time.
www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

Chris Selley: The campaign against Jewish summer camps pulls the mask off the antisemites The charge against them, essentially, is 'being Jewish in Canada'

“The case against these camps would almost be laughably weak — and entirely against the spirit of Canadian multiculturalism — if the potential consequences weren’t so serious... The charge, essentially, is “being Jewish in Canada.”
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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 258: Jaxson Khan With an Insider Perspective on AI Policy Development in Canada - Michael Geist Earlier this month, the government quietly released a “what we heard” report this discussing the response to its 30-day sprint AI consultation from last October. The consultation was promoted as givin...

Where is the government headed on its AI strategy and what to make of its consultation efforts? Jaxson Khan joins the Law Bytes podcast to provide an insider perspective on AI policy development along with his thoughts on the AI consultation and its results.
www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/02/the-...

There is a key role for Internet platforms - including AI companies - to help mitigate public safety risks. But user monitoring and potential over-reporting conduct to police raises serious privacy concerns too. Need enforceable, transparent standards that strike a balance.
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Time for the Government to Fix Its Political Party Privacy Blunder: Kill Bill C-4’s Disastrous Privacy Rules - Michael Geist Just weeks after last year’s election, Mark Carney’s government committed not one, but two privacy blunders in rapid succession. First, Bill C-2 - literally the first substantive bill of the new gover...

The government would no doubt like to fast track Bill C-4. But it is time to fix the privacy blunder from the early days of the Carney government. Kill the political party privacy provisions in the bill and start fresh with a genuine privacy law framework.
www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/02/time...

Time for the Government to Fix Its Political Party Privacy Blunder: Kill Bill C-4’s Disastrous Privacy Rules - Michael Geist Just weeks after last year’s election, Mark Carney’s government committed not one, but two privacy blunders in rapid succession. First, Bill C-2 - literally the first substantive bill of the new gover...

Time for the Government to Fix Its Political Party Privacy Blunder: Kill Bill C-4’s Disastrous Privacy Rules
www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/02/time...

I’ve written about Bill C-4’s stealth privacy rules which largely exempt political parties from privacy law. The House acted like provisions didn’t exist. This week, a Senate committee actually studied it and came back firmly opposed with three potential approaches: kill it, split it, sunset it.

Listened to @mgeist.bsky.social latest podcast with @lisagiven.bsky.social at lunch today, and it really drives home that social media bans aren’t a silver bullet solution. Highly recommend giving it a listen! 👇

The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 257: Lisa Given on What Canada Can Learn From Australia’s Youth Social Media Ban - Michael Geist Social media bans for younger users have begun to take hold in various countries, particularly in Europe. In Canada, Bill S-209 may ostensibly be about underage access to pornography sites, but the bi...

Social media bans have begun to appear in various countries with Australia's social media ban taking effect late last year. @lisagiven.bsky.social joins Law Bytes podcast to discuss how it functions and what lessons Canada might draw from the experience to date.
www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/02/the-...

Court Ordered Social Media Site Blocking Coming to Canada?: Trojan Horse Online Harms Bill Clears Senate Committee Review - Michael Geist Critics of Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne’s successive bills that ostensibly target pornography sites have for years warned of the privacy and equity risks that arise from mandated age verification and...

After watching the clause-by-clause hearing, it is apparent that Bill S-209 is not a bill primarily focused on pornography sites. If it was, it could be drafted with those directly in mind. Rather, it is a trojan horse online harms bill targeting social media.
www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/02/cour...

Senate committee approves S-209, which has become a trojan horse online harms bill that envisions giving the government the power to mandate age verification and site blocking for a myriad of websites that go well beyond just pornography sites. @senatorpaulasimons.bsky.social only one to oppose it.

Bill S-209 website blocking provision just amended. Site blocking still there but this clause - which acknowledged it could result in blocking lawful content - removed. Senators will leave it to Federal Court to determine scope of blocking order.

Few Canadians are paying attention as Senate committee approves creating government power mandating that virtually any site - social media, AI, search - require age verification under threat of court-ordered blocking in Canada. Bill S-209 about far more than pornography sites.

During Bill S-209 clause-by-clause review, Senator @jmivilledechene.bsky.social confirms that she wants bill to potentially go beyond pornography sites. Argues need option to cover broad range of sites, including social media. Would raise possibility of court ordered blocking of social media.

Risky Business: The Legal and Privacy Concerns of Mandatory Age Verification Technologies - Michael Geist When the intersection of law and technology presents seemingly intractable new challenges, policy makers often bet on technology itself to solve the problem. Whether countering copyright infringement ...

Clause-by-clause review for Bill S-209 this morning. The bill raises serious privacy concerns, is overbroad with potential coverage of search and social media, and envisions court ordered website blocking.
www.michaelgeist.ca/2025/07/risk...
www.michaelgeist.ca/2025/05/here...
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An Illusion of Consensus: What the Government Isn’t Saying About the Results of its AI Consultation - Michael Geist The government quietly released a “what we heard” report this week discussing the response to its 30-day sprint AI consultation from last October. Described as the “largest public consultation in the ...

Government used AI to summarize expert reports from its AI consult. I did the same by uploading them to Chat GPT/Perplexity AI to generate new summaries. I found the government consistently softened advice creating an illusion of consensus that isn’t really there.
www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/02/aico...

The Globe reports that lawful access coming back yet again. Last version included expansive warrantless access rules. Piece notably cites to internal CSIS emails celebrating the inclusion of lawful access in Bill C-2 days before the bill introduced.
www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 256: Jennifer Quaid on Taking On Big Tech With the Competition Act's Private Right of Access - Michael Geist Concerns about the dominance of big tech companies has been steadily mounting for years, leading to an increased emphasis on the role that competition law might play. The government recently expanded ...

The government recently expanded the Competition Act to enable individuals to launch their own claims. That quickly led to a case against Google, which the Competition Tribunal addressed in a recent ruling. Jennifer Quaid joins the Law Bytes podcast to discuss.
www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/02/the-...