Ottawa Accused of Lying About Its Own Surveillance Bill on X

Public Safety Canada is under fire after a social media post trying to downplay its new lawful-access legislation was slapped with a community note on X. Critics and privacy advocates are accusing the federal government of misleading the public about the true scope of Bill C-22.

The backlash started when the official Public Safety Canada account posted on Friday that Part 2 of the bill would not create new authorities for police and CSIS, but would simply ensure electronic service providers have the technical capabilities to respond to court orders.

Users flagged the post and X applied a Community Note by Saturday morning, clarifying that while the bill does not formally create new warrant powers, it imposes sweeping new technical obligations on companies, including mandatory metadata retention.

“Bill C-22 may not formally create new warrant powers, but Part 2 would impose new lawful-access and technical capability obligations, including metadata retention. Privacy experts argue this expands the practical surveillance framework if warrant standards remain unchanged,” reads the Community Note on X.

The response on X was swift, with users calling the government’s explanation a flat-out lie and accusing Ottawa of gaslighting the public and literally spreading propaganda with comparisons to North Korea.

What Bill C-22 Actually Does

Part 2 of the legislation has two main components that have alarmed privacy experts. The first would force internet and telecom providers to store the metadata of all users for up to one year, including device locations, timestamps and communication types, capturing the digital activity of millions of Canadians not suspected of any crime. The second allows the Minister of Public Safety to issue secret orders forcing electronic service providers to build specific surveillance capabilities into their systems.

The bill includes a clause stating companies cannot be forced to introduce a “systemic vulnerability,” but critics note the term is never defined, leaving the government to set the rules through later regulations.

Big Tech and VPNs Threaten to Leave Canada

The tech industry has pushed back hard, warning that forcing companies to build surveillance capabilities will compromise encryption and create openings for hackers.

Apple said the law could compel companies to build backdoors into their products, something the company said it would never do. Meta has also lobbied against the bill, telling a parliamentary committee the legislation would turn private companies into an arm of the government’s surveillance apparatus, putting end-to-end encrypted apps like WhatsApp at risk.

The opposition has spread beyond the big American platforms. Encrypted messaging app Signal warned it would pull out of Canada entirely rather than compromise user privacy.

Toronto-based VPN provider Windscribe went further, saying it would relocate its headquarters out of Canada if the bill passes as written. NordVPN essentially said the same, noting it would consider leaving Canada instead of logging user activity or spying on users.

Back on Wednesday during a news conference, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree accused large tech is “using this as an opportunity to double down.”

“Tech giants are misinterpreting some of the safeguards that are already built in, including on ensuring that encryption is not in any way interrupted as part of Bill-22,” he said, according to CBC News.

University of Ottawa Law Professor Michael Geist reiterated the alarm on Bill C-22 on Saturday, warning that its mandatory metadata retention and technical mandates create a “two-headed monster” for privacy. He reiterated that the legislation would establish “a comprehensive surveillance map of virtually every Canadian” without requiring any individualized suspicion. Bill C-22 has “went off the rails” and needs to go back to the drawing board, said Geist.