The federal government introduced online harms legislation Wednesday that would require social media companies to restrict children under 16 years old from their platforms, but will not force AI chatbot platforms to do the same.
The Safe Social Media Act aims to create a “duty to protect children” for all online platforms that will require social media and AI chatbot platforms to incorporate age-appropriate designs, including content warning labels, safe search settings for children, and measures to reduce addictive behaviours like endless scrolling.
Platforms will also have a “duty to act responsibly” that aims to mitigate the risk of chatbots communicating harmful content and behaviour, while requiring AI companies to implement crisis intervention protocols when a user expresses a desire to commit violence or self-harm.
Social media companies, meanwhile, will have to label bot-driven harmful content and “deepfakes,” or synthetic content.
“We’re failing our children. Enough is enough,” Culture Minister Marc Miller said Wednesday after tabling the bill in the House of Commons.
“Our parents cannot face these challenges alone, and the safety of children can’t be an afterthought. We need basic protections in place so every child in this country can be safe on platforms they use every day.”
Social media companies will also be required under the legislation to remove any non-consensual intimate content, and any content that sexually victimizes a child or re-victimizes a survivor, from their platforms.
A digital safety commission will be created to administer and enforce the legislation, which Miller said should be up and running in 18 months.
Canadians will be able to submit complaints about harmful content to the commission if the companies themselves don’t remove the content first, and reported content must be removed within 24 hours.
Companies will be subject to a maximum fine of $10 million or three per cent of their gross global revenue if they violate the regulations set out in the bill.
Miller said he was confident that companies would comply with the legislation and work with the new digital safety commission once it’s in place.
How to enforce a social media ban?
The youth social media ban, which was first reported by Global News this week, will put the onus on social media companies to prevent users under 16 from holding an account. Platforms focused on sharing pornographic content will also be subject to the age restriction requirement.
Companies can seek an exemption if they prove to have implemented “sufficient safeguards” for children, provided those platforms are not already centred on adult content.
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The legislation does not specify what measures social media companies would be required to use to verify users’ ages and enforce the restriction.
Privacy advocates have expressed concern that companies could end up collecting data ranging from government-issued IDs to monitoring users’ online behaviour to determine ages.
Miller said companies would be required to protect Canadians’ privacy but wouldn’t say how, and wouldn’t provide examples on how the government expects it to be implemented.
“There will be a back and forth with platforms as to what protects people’s privacy and what is adequate and sufficient in the circumstances. That is important,” he said.
“As the commission evolves, there will be a back and forth as to what the adequacy and sufficiency of those tools are to make sure that the law is being respected.”
Asked why the legislation doesn’t include a similar age restriction for AI chatbots — particularly after the teenaged mass shooter in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., had been flagged for their behaviour on ChatGPT — Miller said it was too soon for such a move.
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“It is very much an evolving playing field,” he said, adding more study was needed versus the “decades” of research showing the harms posed by social media to youth.
“Admittedly, (AI chatbots) play a function and a role that can be very damaging towards kids, but can also play an important function in the educational system. … We’re going to have to keep a close eye on it, but it did not feel appropriate to impose a minimum age restriction at this time.”
The minister added further consultation and study will be required to possibly expand the legislation to cover private messaging, chatting and gaming platforms like Discord, where harmful content can often be shared with youth.
Advocates say measures desperately needed
Australia last year became the first country to ban social media for children under 16, prompting Canada and many other countries to explore the idea. Similar laws have been or are due to be passed in Malaysia, Brazil, France and other nations.
Advocates for youth mental health and addiction say further protections for children online are desperately needed, and that an age restriction is just one tool among many that should be pursued.
“We must safeguard the very precious and uniquely vulnerable developmental window that is childhood and adolescence,” said Charlotte Moore Hepburn, a pediatrician and director of the Child Health Policy Accelerator at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
“Canada needs this comprehensive framework that establishes clear responsibilities for platforms to act safely and responsibly, in both the building and operating of the products they provide.”
The Canadian Medical Association and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection both applauded the bill in statements Wednesday, citing growing research and warnings about the health impacts of extended screen time and social media addiction.
Experts have told Global News that parents and educators should be modelling healthy online behaviour for children, and that education is needed to prepare youth for the digital world.
Miller said that responsibility extends to both parents and provinces and territories, many of which are pursuing their own social media policies for young people.
“This is stuff we’ll have to do in partnership,” he said.
“It is key to making sure that kids have a safer experience in this country, in their online experiences, and actually get out and play.”
Let’s not focus on the kids because that is what the Liberals want us to do. We know kids will find a way around the restriction. The whole purpose of the restriction is to keep us focused on that while the rest of the act is ignored. In the act there are real problems for Canadian’s their privacy and government control. Don’t be fooled by the “nothing to see here, look at this instead” smoke and mirrors. The act is very dangerous to iur rights and freedoms.
I hope everyone realizes that EVERYONE will have to sign on every time they access the net because they will have to confirm that they are over 16 years old. That means your name and date of birth, along with anything else required. THAT is the start of the invasion of our privacy and the censorship and control.
My 7 year old grandson figured out how to change the time restrictions his parents put on his ipad. Now tell me what a 12 year old or 13 or 14 can do.
How do they keep children off these sites, when they can lie about their age on these platforms?
Where there’s a will, there’s a way… And kids will find a way to get around any type of restrictions put in place! Kids always have and always will…
I’m so proud of Canada to recognize that no children should be on Social media with Adults. I strongly believe no children 18 and under should be on Social media and if there is one it’s should only be for the children.
You have to be extremely stupid to believe this is workable
Trudeau has Chatbots to talk dirty to him.
So the Liberals want social media to spy on us, and check our chats for unacceptable content. – not going to happen. – even Australia did not go that far. And polls suggest that their children may be experiencing more on-line access, not less. After all, if it is restricted…
Advocates for youth??? Like alcohol and driving, we should be teaching our children how to use them safely and responsibly. These are anti-youth groups. We need less restrictions.
When you vote in complete moron idiots ,this is what you get.wake up Canada this country is sinking like the Titanic ! Wake up people !!! Start thinking for yourselves . Read between the lines. You are getting suckered!! How Much more dry humping can you take????
What constitutes a social media platform?
Is everyone a terrible parent now, just oblivious to the reality they already experienced that children challenge everything about adulthood because we deny them the same freedoms and experience we enjoy?
How long before every child that wants to knows how to usurp whatever weak logic we develop to stop them?
6 months? 9 maybe.
Most misinformation and disinformation in Canada is from Carney and his cronies and amplified by Cue Ball Cochrane at the CBC.
Can we ban Carney as he is never in canada anyways
“We’re failing our children. Enough is enough,” Culture Minister Marc Miller
Have liberals considered actually parenting their children? We didn’t allow ours access to SM until they were 18. That must be “asking for more than they can give.” Whether it’s SM or AI, it’s all a toxic wasteland.
Wow this hits hard. I’m dealing with this and an ex husband 😭
I mean I’m in favor of this but if you really want to help kids today, do something about the cost of living/housing. Kids aren’t just depressed because social media, they’re depressed because they’ll never be worth anything and will probably struggle with crippling debt forever.
Hahaha kids know how to get past all the blocks have been for decades.
Funny how there are no arrests related to epstein and his partners in crime or the people that paid for it. It is now the same people who are likely on the list are now trying to claim its for the kids. What a twisted world this is.
Resist it
That’s it!? ” We’re going to take all REASONABLE measures….how about some details?
Like everything else the Liberals pass, it always starts as something decent, something that needs addressing and they will turn it into something to push their agenda, narrative…..
impossible to do. wont keep any kids off tik tok or anything else. always a way around.
If parents did their job we wouldn’t need this.
This is how it starts. Something beneficial has always, ALWAYS, been used to begin the totalitarian control. It is always a Trojan Horse that sneaks in the control. First with small steps, then, when those are accepted, the REAL censorship and draconian legislation hidden within gets imposed on a clueless population who then wonder …. How did it come to this.
Remember, this loser party wanted to let kids vote but now thinks they’re too stupid to be trusted with a cell phone.
Gonna be migraine funny to see how liberals quantify and restrict social media…
Most family-values Cons around the world are ok with this and indeed are behind some new laws.
Not PP.
If you go by the grammar on these sites, most of PP’s posters will be banned as three year olds.
Ben
June 10, 2026 at 8:52 am
An excellent idea to protect children in this country from online harms.
Um why not regulate the internet for everyone’s sake? Force the billionaire owners to clean it up for the sake of EVERYONE who uses it!
But no, this is fascism. Its all about control. Bans, censorship and the like. First this ban, then another, then another and soon, no one gets internet unless sanctioned and allowed by the ruling elites.
An excellent idea to protect children in this country from online harms.
This will be the first step to NK style restricted internet in Canada. Carney is an authoritarian