The Rebel Media, that bastion of free speech, is threatening me with legal action because I called out the insane and conspiratorial rhetoric they used to go after federal politicians.

The Rebel is all about using the courts to try and bully their critics. No thanks.

(Sorry, Corus! Love you folks!)

I tweet this out because I know folks like Ezra have used legal notices like this to scare people. Don't let him! Legal threats like these can have a really dangerous chilling effect on free expression. Anti-SLAPP laws exist for a reason.

If you're wondering about the context of the interview I gave, it was around the increasing seriousness of the threats being levied against Trudeau and the federal government. https://nationalpost.com/opinion/justin-ling-someone-is-going-to-get-killed/wcm/85b32202-577f-44ae-94d1-d821cd2b1d3c/

Here's one particular example that marries racism, baseless conspiracies targeting a senior government official, and accusations that they are selling out Canada to a foreign power.

Here's The Rebel promoting a clip of an interview of someone saying "he's a traitor to Canada, honestly. It's Trudeau for treason." They use it as the lead clip (no pushback) and aggressively used to fundraise for their election coverage (if you can call it that.)

Then there's the flatly anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about George Soros and his supposed control of the Canadian government.

My suspicion is that Levant is firing libel notices so that he can turn around and raise funds from his supporters, without ever really planning on filing suit.

If he does, am I worried? No. Because my comments were in the spirit of critical reporting, they were grounded in fact, and they were responsible comment. Meanwhile, the Rebel is not a journalism organization.

But if I may return to my original point: The Rebel is playing a very dangerous game, peddling conspiracy theory and xenophobia in order to drive clicks and donations. When they get called on it, they threaten legal action.

But there are consequences to their actions.

So, to the chagrin of some lawyers I'm sure, I'd like to reiterate that the Rebel is very much whipping up fervour against federal officials with their conspiracy theories, and that it is incredibly dangerous.

This is a public policy concern. We need to take this seriously.