Stopping Internet Sexual Exploitation Act (the Protect Act)

This bill, known as the Protect Act, changes the Criminal Code to require age and consent verification for pornographic material made or distributed for commercial purposes. Anyone making such material commercially must first confirm that everyone shown is 18 or older and has given express consent to being depicted. Anyone distributing or advertising such material commercially must get written confirmation from the maker that this consent and age verification took place, and that consent hasn't since been withdrawn in writing. Acceptable proof of age generally requires checking government-issued photo identification, and the examination must be documented at the time.

Website operators who knowingly fail to take down pornographic material after the maker or a depicted person requests its removal in writing commit an offence, and this also applies to material already online before the law takes effect if proper consent documentation was never obtained. Breaking these rules can lead to significant penalties, including fines up to $500,000 and prison terms up to 10 years. Courts sentencing someone for these offences must treat it as an aggravating factor if the person depicted was actually under 18 or did not consent, and can order offenders to remove material from the internet or restrict their internet use. Victims can also be compensated for reasonable costs incurred in getting non-consensual material taken down.

The bill also updates related Criminal Code provisions dealing with search warrants, seizure and forfeiture of obscene or exploitative material, and publication bans, to explicitly include this new category of non-consensual pornographic material alongside existing categories like child sexual abuse material and intimate images shared without consent. Finally, it contains technical "coordinating" clauses to ensure its provisions mesh properly with another bill (Bill C-16) if both become law, avoiding duplicate or conflicting legal changes.

This bill creates new Criminal Code offences for making, distributing or advertising commercial pornographic material without verified age and consent, and for website operators who fail to remove such material on request, along with new seizure, forfeiture and court-order powers tied to these offences.

• New offences and penalties — making, distributing, advertising, or failing to remove pornographic material without verified age/consent is punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $500,000 on indictment, or up to $100,000 summarily; breaching a related court order carries up to 10 years imprisonment.
• Reverse onus on age-verification defence — an accused cannot rely on believing a depicted person was 18 or older unless they show they examined specific government-issued identification, believed it genuine, and documented the examination at the time.
• Court-ordered internet restrictions — a sentencing court may prohibit a convicted person from using the Internet or any digital network, or require them to remove or ensure removal of material, for any period the court considers appropriate, including during imprisonment.
• Expanded seizure and forfeiture powers — judges may issue warrants to seize or order deletion of material (and underlying computer data) believed to be non-consensual pornographic material, with forfeiture to the Crown on conviction.
• Regulation-making power — the Governor in Council (Cabinet) may make regulations, not yet written, prescribing what documentation counts as valid age/consent verification, what records makers and distributors must keep and for how long, and what obligations website operators have for handling removal requests.
• Extraterritorial reach — Canadian citizens or permanent residents who commit certain sexual offences against children abroad are deemed to have committed them in Canada, expanding the offences this applies to.