Manitoba could soon be the first province in Canada to ban social media, including AI chatbots, for youth, Premier Wab Kinew said this weekend.
Kinew’s announcement at an NDP fundraiser in Winnipeg comes as other provinces and the federal government are considering whether to implement similar restrictions.
“As your premier, my most sacred responsibility is the protection and the safety of our children,” he said.
“We are going to take action on things that are really harming our kids. These are forces that contribute to anxiety and depression, these are forces that lead young women and girls being trafficked and these are forces that lead to too many of our precious children taking their own lives. I’m talking about social media.”
Kinew said the platforms are doing “very, very awful things” to children, adding they’re designed to get people “addicted to the infinite scroll” by triggering the release of dopamine.
The premier’s plan for a ban isn’t new.
Members of the federal Liberal party voted earlier this month to set 16 as the age for Canadians to be able to use social media accounts during the party’s policy convention.
A few days later, Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra said the Progressive Conservative government is also considering a total, province-wide prohibition on cellphones in elementary and high schools, along with a social media ban for children under 16.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has said his government plans to ask the public their views on a ban.
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These actions follow Australia passing its social media ban for the same age group in December. That law will also make platforms like TikTok and Meta liable for fines of up to C$45.5 million for systematic failures to prevent children under 16 from holding accounts.
But while some provinces and the federal Liberals have suggested it, Kinew appears to be the first to be moving forward with it, though he did not say when his plan will be enacted. He also didn’t specify the age range the law will target, or how a provincial government could have jurisdiction over such platforms.
Carmi Levy, a technology analyst, said in an interview that the way a ban be implemented is another obstacle.
He said the law in Australia requires social media companies to implement age verification technologies, but also to use AI to scan accounts for signs of whether they are the age they said they were when signing up.
“It’s not 100-per cent solution,” he said. “Kids are managing to bypass it in Australia, and I think we would have to expect that the same thing would happen here, both in Manitoba as well in Canada.
“The trick is to ensure that the vast majority of kids are targeted, that the mass majority of kids are given other alternatives to unmitigated social media access and that their safety is maximized.”
Support for such rules around social media nationally is high, with an Angus Reid Institute poll in March finding banning those under 16 from the platforms would be “well-received.” About 75 per cent of those surveyed said they support a full ban. The poll also showed 70 per cent of parents with kids in the household support the idea.
There have also been questions since the mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School about how the person behind the tragedy used OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The 18-year-old was banned from using the AI chatbot due to worrisome interactions, but the company did not alert law enforcement and the shooter got around the ban by having a second account.
Last week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman issued an apology letter to Tumbler Ridge, saying the company was “deeply sorry” it did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June.
Federal Culture Minister Marc Miller has said earlier in April that the decision about a potential ban would be left to an expert panel currently examining online harms, to weigh in on whether the bill should cover AI chatbots.
“We owe the next generation of Manitobans a simple promise, freedom,” Kinew said on Saturday.
“Freedom from screen time. Freedom to be a kid and to enjoy this beautiful place that we call home by going outside and playing with your friends in person.”
The Manitoba legislative assembly is expected to sit for four more weeks before summer break and not reconvene until the end of September.
—with files from Global News’ Hersh Singh and The Canadian Press
Government overreach. I disagree with censorship of books and now this. What next 😳 🤔. It’s a parent’s responsibility to oversee what their children do.
Love this. Let’s hope other provinces follow.
Banning kids is not really in tech limits right now. Let’s set it so any phone connected to wireless networks transmits an age confirmation code set by the bill payer. Minimum kid work around now becomes renting their own phones.
Good on Kinew.
Good news!
Should be banned all across Canada
Why?
With the federal government also proposing to do the same, why would Manitobans want to pay twice to accomplish the same thing?
The horses have left the barn- nice try to impose a ban but you are too late. Society is addicted and children are smarter than most generations. It’s up to parents, family and friends to provide support and safety to those who are falling into the abyss of mind control.
“Inside every progressive is a totalitarian screaming to get out.” David Horowitz.
The 1984 thought police will be alive and well once they have been able to adopt this measure and make the censorship and control normal. Just like the UK we will be arrested for what they presume we are thinking, and jailed if we dare to put it in writing.
If parents didn’t both have to work all day just to afford some groceries and keep a roof over their heads, maybe there would be more family time? Frankly, I think giving kids a phone to sit and scroll is a bad idea, but government censorship is never a good thing, either. AI overwatch looks like another move to take control over communication and further control people. Next it will be Precrime.
Yep. Posturing. Imagine having the ‘free and open’ internet using AI to scan our texts and searching to check our age. Imagine what else they are illegally checking for…
Any kid, interested in chat sites, knows how to get around age checking. I wonder how many adults will be flagged, because they have a taste for things like Spongebob, or Southpark.
I forgot to take my meds. Sorry people
When is the indoctrination of our kids in schools going to be stopped.
Give politicians and governments power and they always crave more power, because more power means more control and they live for control.
Totalitarianism always needs more and more control. “Ideas are more powerful than guns. We don’t let our enemies have guns. Why should we let them have ideas.” Joseph Stalin.
The slippery slope is yet again being greased. It always starts with a “beneficial” excuse and escalates into full on fascist censorship of the population. In case no one has noticed the slippery slope on MAiD is an example of such escalation. That started out as a “benevolent” way to ease pain in those close to death and now they are talking MAiD for those in the teens who may have a mental illness. Government is never good for the people when it comes to restrictions, it ALWAYS go too far.
How about we work on making it safe for kids to go outside instead of working on forcing them off the internet? Manitoba is not a safe place to live…. the province should be using its resources to help make it safer so then parents can feel safe letting their kids out again.
What a waste, as if teens can’t ‘get around’ this restriction.
Wouldn’t need this ban if people today actually did this thing called parenting.
More socialist progressive forward thinking ideas that will not work unless people give identification information we are constantly being told not to ‘push’ out onto the internet.
I believe the government supporters of these ideas just want to have lucrative fine income of the Social Media companies as the governments search for underage accounts.
Ok, so one can’t say the obvious here. Again, fascism strikes down the truth here. REGULATE THE F*CKIN net AND LEAVE THE PEOPLE ALONE!!!
i don’t like this guy
seems slimey. he is one of thr architects of canadas demise. he single Handley stopped the new pipeline deal between alberta and ontario. if ontario runs out of gas it will be this guys fault. the federation shouldn’t pay for the power line to nowhere and the port
unless he agrees to let ontario have canadian oil. gooo carney
It will be interesting to see the polls after implementation. Usually government attempts to control people’s personal lives is something blamed on conservatives (ex: boys in girls bathrooms, removal of pornography from libraries). So for an NDP government to stomp down on something like this will be something to see.
Ban Ban Ban. Not to worry comrades. Chinada will protect you ALL in the name of public safety. Chairman Mark Mao will eventually ban food so…..
It’s about fricking time. My grand-niece is 10 going on 11 and she’s already turning into a teenager emotionally.
My parents blame modern kids’ expose to the harmful influences of social media.
More government overreach disguised as virtue
Parents decide
No one else
Social Media has destroyed the morals of more people then Hollywood does. People need to put their phones down, be a parent and teach your children right and wrong ( that’s if you even know the difference) . Stop playing virtual house
*does
They should be teaching what the “OFF” button dies. I am sure the kids would find it very empowering.
Does this mean that all adults will also need to prove their age and identity ? Therefore anonymity on social media will truly be destroyed (unless you are using a VPN). Loss of freedom of speech and policing of social media comments is not far behind.
It’s as bad as smoking. Good move.
SHOULD BE DONE WORLD WIDE
Lots of bad parents out there. Nanny state NDP never surprises me.
Likely just a ploy to extort money from the social media companies to undo the ban. Also, parents should be regulating this for their kids, not the government.
I have 4 children under 16 in my house.
This has zero effect on them. Why? Cause i dont need a nannystate government to tell me that i should keep my kids off social media.
For the loser parents, this will also have no effect. Their kids will still gaze endlessly into screens.
Kids have no social skills anymore and covid made it worse. Good move.
Should be up to parents to decide not you.
Socialist lefties always ban things they don’t like