FederalBill C-257First Reading
Bill C-257: An Act to amend the Criminal Code (promotion of terrorist activity or group)
Sponsor: Roman BaberIntroduced November 17, 2025Last checked August 28, 2026
Read the official text on parl.caOfficial version — LEGISinfo, Parliament of Canada
What this bill does
This bill amends the Criminal Code to create a new indictable offence of wilfully promoting a terrorist activity or terrorist group through communicating statements, punishable by up to five years imprisonment, with defences for true statements, good-faith religious expression, public interest discussion, and good-faith efforts to identify and remove such content.
Plain-language summary by Legisail.
Business impact
Compliance
This bill primarily affects businesses involved in communications, media, social media platforms, online content hosting, and publishing. Companies operating websites, forums, or platforms where user-generated content is shared could face increased legal scrutiny regarding content that promotes terrorist activities or groups. Businesses in the tech and media sectors across all Canadian provinces would need to be more vigilant about monitoring and moderating content. Size matters here — larger platforms with significant user bases face greater exposure, but even small online publishers, community forums, or content creators could be impacted if they host or disseminate statements that could be interpreted as promoting terrorism.
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Where this bill is
First ReadingNovember 17, 2025
Next: Second Reading debate
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