Is Canada About To Ban Social Media for Kids?

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government may be preparing to introduce a bill to ban social media for kids under age 16 as part of a larger online harms bill, which has been under discussion since 2024 and was first introduced under Justin Trudeau.

The proposed move comes after an Angus Reid Poll in March found Canadians are overwhelmingly in favour of social media restrictions for kids, with 75 percent of those surveyed saying it’s needed. It also revealed an equally strong preference for how those restrictions may be enforced: 72 percent of those polled said they felt this responsibility should be left up to parental discretion, not government policy.

Canada could join Australia in banning social media for youth

Australia is currently the only country that has restrictions on social media for kids, banning youth under 16 from apps like Snapchat and X. (Access to AI chatbots, games like Roblox and chat servers like Discord, however, are not affected by the ban.) That effort, which began last December, has not gone entirely smoothly, with some reports suggesting that nearly two-thirds of youth have figured out ways around the age requirements.

While the overall effect of the ban is still too early to measure, one report found that it has reduced many teens’ access to world news and events, and that they're not looking to traditional sources to fill that gap in cultural awareness.

A wide-ranging bill

A source reportedly told Globe reporter Marie Woolf that the bill would be wide-ranging and extend beyond a simple age ban. Instead, the online harms bill may reportedly establish a “Canadian digital regulator” that would set standards that could see kids’ access to social media restored pending platform changes that improve safety. It could also include some mitigation efforts to rein in the influence of AI chatbots online, as well as reintroduce requirements that sites must “swiftly remove child sexual abuse material and posts encouraging children to self-harm.”

Additionally, the bill could also see AI companies be asked to work with law enforcement by providing information about users who they suspect pose a risk for violent behaviour or self-harm.

A deadly shooting at a school in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., that killed eight people, mostly children, in January raised debate about the responsibility AI companies hold when it comes to flagging users’ content to police. It’s been reported that the 18-year-old shooter responsible for that tragedy had previously posted disturbing content online and had been flagged and banned from ChatGPT by Open AI months before the shooting.

Could a social media ban impact all users?

The impact of the ban, even if temporary, could have implications for all users—and their data—online, according to critics of the proposed bill. Some experts who have argued that the ban on kids would mean that everyone who uses social media would be required to prove their age before using these platforms.

In a post on his site, University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist wrote: “Tens of millions of Canadians who are not the target of the policy would be required to submit proof of age, typically to foreign third-party verification services, in order to do the ordinary things they already do online. The privacy risks, including the challenge of even applying Canadian privacy law to the collection, are enormous.”

It’s not yet clear if the bill would build in protections for user data. For its part, the Australian government claims it has implemented such protections in its ban.

The Globe and Mail report suggests the bill and the ban could be introduced as early as Wednesday this week.