Ottawa introduces bill to ban social media for kids under 16

Canada’s federal government outlined the details of its newly proposed Safe Social Media Act today, which includes a ban on social media for users younger than 16.

Ottawa announced Bill C-34, which has not yet been debated before parliament, at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon with Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture Marc Miller. The proposed bill includes a swath of potential restrictions on both social media services and artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, as well as the establishment of a new regulator for online safety.

Under the bill, Ottawa will establish a new regulatory body, dubbed the Canadian Digital Safety Commission (CDSC), that will establish, oversee, and enforce safety standards for both social media services and AI chatbots. That body will be able to issue orders, conduct inspections, and levy fines to companies of up to three percent of global revenue or $10 million, whichever is higher, according to government officials.

During a technical briefing on the issue today, government officials said the CDSC could reasonably be up and running within 18 months of Bill C-34 receiving royal assent.

The proposed legislation outlines several key areas of focus for regulating both AI chatbots and traditional social media sites. On the social media side, a ban would be in place for users under 16 years of age, but social media companies that meet sufficient safety standards—which will be defined at a later date by the CDSC—could see those restrictions lifted. Chatbots will not be subject to age-gated restrictions under this version of the bill.

RELATED: OpenAI connection to Tumbler Ridge tragedy puts balance between privacy and public safety in the spotlight

Both services will see increased scrutiny over online harms, particularly as it relates to children and young people. Social media services will be required to more swiftly to remove illegal and harmful material like child sexual abuse material or nonconsensual sharing of intimate materials. Under the bill’s framework, companies would have 24 hours to remove that content after it is reported.

For AI chatbots like ChatGPT, companies must implement measure to mitigate harmful content generation, and integrate crisis intervention around potential instances of self-harm, suicide, or violence. Companies must also make it more difficult to jailbreak or coerce chatbots into engaging in harmful behaviour or counsel.

Both services will also be required to continually assess, mitigate, and report on risks to users, provide tools to flag content, and label bot-driven, harmful, or synthetic deepfake materials. Companies will also need to provide a digital safety plan to the CDSC and the public.

The Safe Social Media Act is a spiritual successor to Canada’s Online Harms Act, a bill that had been working its way through government for several years before dying while parliament was prorogued in 2025. That legislation received pushback from critics who claimed the act did too much to restrict lawful speech.

This latest bill also comes amid similar bans in countries like Australia, which in December banned kids under 16 from using some social media, and the UK’s 2023 Online Safety Act, which age-gated some online content. The UK is also considering a social media ban for anyone younger than 16.

Advocate groups and some parents have supported a proposed ban, citing concerns over how social media use impacts mental health and safety, as well as its addictive qualities. Critics of this type of legislation, both in Canada and elsewhere, have said such restrictions are largely ineffective.

In Australia, reports have shown that many children are evading the restrictions, either by migrating to different social media platforms not under the ban’s umbrella or by fooling age verification processes. Others critics have highlighted concerns around privacy and data collection related to age-gating that can require users to provide photos of themselves or government-issued ID to access these platforms.

Under Bill C-34, the CDSC will be responsible for creating a framework of adequate age-verification protocols for companies to implement. During today’s technical briefing, government officials said criteria for devising those methods would include that it is efficient, collects a minimum amount of data, destroys that data when it’s no longer needed, and complies with the commission’s framework.

Feature image courtesy of Marc Miller via X