The Canadian government has introduced a bill to ban social media for children under 16
The Canadian government has introduced a bill in Parliament that would potentially ban children under the age of 16 from using social media.
Restrictions may be imposed on platforms that cannot prove their safety for underage users.
“We are failing our children. Enough is enough. We need basic protection,” Miller said.
The legislative initiative covers seven categories of harmful content, including:
- materials that encourage children to self-harm;
- content that incites violence;
- materials that incite hatred;
- intimate images shared without the person’s consent;
- other types of dangerous or illegal content.
To monitor compliance with the new rules, the government plans to establish a Digital Safety Commission to oversee compliance by online platforms.
According to Miller, establishing the new regulator could take up to 18 months. The government will publish detailed criteria regarding possible exceptions to the ban at a later date.
Under the bill, companies that own social media platforms will be required to confirm that their services are safe for minors.
There are also plans to implement a user age verification system designed to prevent children from accessing platforms if they do not meet the established requirements.
It is specifically noted that Canadian adult content platforms will not be eligible for any exemptions from the new rules.
The document also sets out new requirements for companies that develop chatbots and other AI-based systems.
Developers may be required to implement crisis response protocols and be held accountable for the safe use of their technologies.
The impetus for drafting the bill came from Australia’s experience, where a ban on social media use by individuals under 16 is already in effect.
According to Australian officials, after the restrictions were introduced, social media platforms blocked approximately 4.7 million accounts belonging to children.
Canadian authorities state that they intend to take the results of the Australian experiment into account when implementing their own regulatory model.
Lianna McDonald, Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, welcomed the legislative initiative.
She emphasized that in recent years, there has been a significant increase in cases of blackmailing minors using intimate photos and materials shared via social media.
Keywords: Canada, social media ban for children, social media under 16, Canadian bill, children’s digital safety, age verification on social media, artificial intelligence, online safety, child protection online.
This was announced by Canadian Minister of Culture Mark Miller, who emphasized the need to strengthen the protection of children in the online space, according to The Guardian.
Earlier, the British communications regulator Ofcom criticized the popular platforms TikTok and YouTube for failing to take the necessary measures to protect underage users, despite the existence of indisputable evidence of harm.
