Australia has enacted a ban on social media for children under 16, while other countries are working on similar restrictions.Hollie Adams/Reuters
Ottawa is planning to propose a ban on social media for children under 16 as part of an online harms bill to be introduced Wednesday.
But platforms that meet new safety standards may be able to allow children to opt back in, according to a source familiar with the forthcoming bill. The Globe and Mail is not naming the source as they are not authorized to speak publicly about the legislation.
The long-awaited online harms bill is also expected to require companies to mitigate harmful content.
This would include action to deal with artificial-intelligence chatbots that advocates have been calling on the government to regulate. Advocates and families have expressed concern that chatbots programmed to behave like companions have coached some children on suicide and how to mask eating disorders.
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The bill is also expected to revive some measures that were introduced in previous versions of the bill that did not make it all the way through the legislative process. That includes a requirement to swiftly remove child sexual abuse material and reduce exposure to content encouraging children to harm themselves.
As with other bills, regulations that would be put in place after the legislation’s passage are expected to be a key mechanism to bring in some of the changes.
A new Canadian digital regulator would be established by the bill, the source said. The regulator would set standards for social media platforms in order to mitigate harms to children. Companies that have taken steps to meet such standards could apply to have children under 16 allowed back on their platforms if they have made the required improvements.
The bill, to be shepherded through the Commons by Canadian Identity Minister Marc Miller, is also expected to require that AI companies be transparent about their thresholds for contacting police when a user has indicated they intend to harm themselves or someone else.
The mass school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., in February led to AI Minister Evan Solomon summoning executives of ChatGPT maker OpenAI. It had emerged that the shooter’s chatbot conversations had been flagged to the company because they discussed scenarios involving gun violence, but this was not ultimately reported to police.
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The social media ban for children under 16 mirrors earlier action in Australia that was introduced last year. But research shows that many children have evaded the restrictions and are still accessing social media there.
Britain is also planning legislation on age verification for children.
Kaitlynn Mendes, a Canada Research Chair in inequality and gender at Western University, said academics from around the world disagree that a social media ban for people under 16 is the best way to address concerns about youth being harmed online.
But Ms. Mendes, an expert in digital safety, said provisions to exempt companies that show their products are safe by design is “a move in the right direction,” saying there should be “accountability from tech companies about the products they develop and release.”
“I hope that the new legislation focuses more on regulating and holding tech companies accountable, rather than trying to police children and youth,” she said in an email. “Early reports from Australia show that their ban has only removed approximately 30 per cent of users under 16 and has not done anything to fundamentally make digital spaces safer.”
An under-16 social media ban introduced in Australia last year. A survey showed that more than half of teens covered by that ban still use restricted social media apps.
The poll of 1,050 children aged 12-15, found that 61 per cent of that cohort who had accounts on platforms that became restricted when the ban went into force still have access to one or more of those accounts. The survey was conducted by online safety advocacy group the Molly Rose Foundation and Australia’s largest youth research group, YouthInsight.
Many major social media platforms in Canada already have their own bans on youths under 13, but young users have found ways to set up accounts.
Last month, G7 digital and tech ministers agreed on a common set of principles in an attempt to establish safer and more secure digital spaces for minors.
The group of ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the United States – as well as the European Union – agreed to prioritize measures such as robust age verification.
The goal is to support age-appropriate online experiences for minors, and to prevent them from accessing age-restricted digital services.
The ministers also agreed that there should be a high level of privacy and safety for minors’ accounts, with features designed to minimize excessive online engagement while also providing children with tools to be more in control of their experiences online.
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The social media ban in Canada is expected to be welcomed by advocates for families concerned about the potential negative impact of social media on young people.
But Michael Geist, a Canada Research Chair in internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, said introducing age verification for social media is fraught with practical difficulties and could mean that the age of all users would need to be checked.
He said there are practical problems with how to verify age accurately without jeopardizing personal privacy. He said age estimation, which could include taking photos of a face or hand, is often inaccurate and may be biased against racialized groups, and requiring all social media users to upload government-issued ID could raise privacy issues.
“Once you establish a requirement that your service is no available to people based on age, you have got to establish the full infrastructure to do that,” he said. “That means you have to introduce age verification for all Canadians. Mandated age verification raises serious privacy concerns.”
A group of experts appointed by Mr. Miller to consider the potential content of the bill had also discussed possible controls to reduce social media addiction in young people, such as limits to infinite scrolling. On social media, once a video is watched, another often instantly pops up. It’s unclear if the bill will address such concerns.
The new online harms bill will replace a previous bill that was tabled in 2024 but died when Parliament was dissolved ahead of last year’s federal election.
A series of proposed changes to the Criminal Code included in the previous version of the bill, including stiff new penalties for hate propaganda offences, met steep opposition. They are not expected be included in the latest more streamlined bill.
The government has also been looking at introducing new protections that would shield youth under age 18 from targeted marketing. A forthcoming bill that would update privacy legislation is being prepared by the AI Minister, Mr. Solomon.
Britain passed its own online safety act in 2023 imposing duties on social media companies and search services, making them more responsible for their users’ safety on their platforms, particular under-18s.
In Britain, Ofcom is the independent regulator of Online Safety which set out codes of practice, including for major social media platforms. Under the British bill they must have “effective” age checks so they can identify users under 18 and shield them from harmful content.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is reported to be preparing, like Canada, to ban under-16s accessing “harmful” social media apps.
Meta has brought a High Court case in Britain against OFCOM, about costs it must foot related to the British act to fund its work. The tech giant has claimed that ithe reulator’s methodology for calculating fees and potential fines is “disproportionate” and should be recalculated.
