After years of preparation, the federal government is set to introduce new legislation on Monday aimed at addressing a range of online harms.

The bill will largely focus on protecting children with specific obligations for platforms, according to a senior government source not authorized to speak publicly about the details that have not yet been released.

The source said, "The bill also seeks to address deepfake non-consensual pornography using artificial intelligence, although the legislation is not expected to grant law enforcement new powers."

The bill, which was put on the notice paper to return to the House of Commons on Monday, proposes enacting the "Online Harms Act" and making amendments to the Criminal Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act, as well as laws related to the mandatory reporting of online child pornography.

This is not the first time the Liberals have tried to introduce legislation of this nature, but after experts criticized the initial proposal as flawed, the government went back to the drawing board to reshape its plans amid an evolving online environment.

Government officials from the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Department of Justice will hold a technical briefing for journalists on Monday afternoon, followed by a press conference led by Justice Minister Arif Virani at 5:15 p.m., according to a news release.

Before the bill is introduced, here is what you need to know.

What online harms will be included?

Although the full scope of the legislation will not be revealed until it is made public in the House of Commons, it is expected to be an evolved version of the Liberals’ initial proposal, including a focus on harms to young people.

Originally, the government embarked on wanting to impose rules and regulations requiring online platforms to be more accountable and transparent about about five types of harmful content: hate speech, terrorist content, incitement to violence, non-consensual image sharing, and child exploitation.

According to a senior CTV News source, in addition to these focus areas, concerns were raised during consultations about children experiencing online bullying and self-harm incitement. These two areas are expected to be addressed through this legislation.

The legislation’s measures will also include part to tackle non-consensual sharing of intimate images by taking strict action on the growing trend of explicit sexual racism, and allowing specific requirements regarding what is known as “revenge porn” as reported.

The source said that despite recent calls for action to address this area, sparked by international headlines related to fake images involving major star Taylor Swift, the government has been working on legislative amendments in this regard for some time.

Which minister is taking the lead?

While this file was in the hands of successive Ministers of Heritage and the Department of Canadian Heritage, Virani will take the lead on the upcoming bill, instead of Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge.

Earlier this week, Virani quietly took the oath as "Minister of State (Online Harms)" specifically "to assist the Minister of Canadian Heritage in carrying out the minister’s responsibilities".

From the government’s perspective, this will likely allow the Minister of Justice to tap into the resources of the Canadian Heritage departments as the bill makes its way through Parliament.

It remains to be seen how the ministers will collaborate in sponsoring the legislation through the House of Commons and the Senate, which will include questions from parliamentarians, and possibly committee hearings.

What is the background of this law?

This bill originated from the 2019 mandate letter from the Prime Minister to then-Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault to: "Create new regulations for social media platforms, beginning with a requirement that all platforms remove illegal content".

This led to two main actions. First, the introduction of what was known as Bill C-36, which was presented in the final hour of the last Parliament and focused on hate speech, and the bill died on the order paper without being reconsidered.

The second step came two weeks before Trudeau called the 2021 election, when the government released a "technical discussion paper" on a proposed legislative framework to address five forms of content.

Among the ideas raised in the government’s initial proposal were implementing a 24-hour removal requirement for content deemed harmful; compelling platforms to provide data on their algorithms and rationale for when action is taken on flagged posts; and establishing a new system for Canadians to appeal platform decisions on content moderation.

After facing a significant backlash to this discussion paper during the 2021 campaign, the Liberals promised to proceed with a "balanced and targeted" online harms bill within 100 days of the last election. After the vote, Pablo Rodriguez took the portfolio and returned to the drawing board.

This rewiring included pushing on a committee of experts and specialists in platform governance, content regulation, civil liberties, technical regulation, and national security to help guide the government on what the bill should and should not include.

In the summer of 2022, Rodriguez and senior officials from his department traveled across the country to hold discussions with stakeholders and representatives from minority groups. As of that time, sources expressed optimism that the bill would be ready by early 2023.

After months and still no legislation on the horizon, the experts who helped draft the bill authored an open letter indicating that after a series of consultations, it was time to introduce legislation, noting the protections Canadian children lack compared to other countries that already have similar laws.

Will this political confrontation be heated?

If the exchange of fire between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre this week is any indication, this legislation has the potential to become a lightning rod.

Heading into the bill’s introduction after two previous rounds of controversial discussions about their online news and online streaming bills, the government is aware of a potential bigger battle when it comes to online harms.

Already trying to dissipate the Conservative line of attack on this law, which revolves centrally around censorship, Trudeau told reporters this week that the legislation "will specifically focus on protecting children and not censoring the internet".

Trudeau said, "We know, and everyone can agree, that children are vulnerable online ... We need to do a better job as a society to protect our children online, just as we protect them on the school playgrounds." "Now, how do you navigate this very delicate balance" ..

Trudeau said, "Leadership is about dealing in facts, reading the legislation in reality before you start telling people what you think it does, then having a rigorous debate in Parliament."