Conservatives question whether Ottawa's proposed under-16 social media ban will work

Conservative MPs asked during a House of Commons debate whether Ottawa's proposed ban on social-media accounts for children under 16 would work in practice, or whether teenagers would find ways around it.

The proposal is part of Bill C-34, a bill, which is a draft law still before Parliament. The bill would require social-media companies to block users under 16 from having accounts. Under the bill, a company could seek an exemption by showing a new digital safety regulator, the official body that would oversee the rules, that it has put sufficient safeguards in place to protect children. The Globe and Mail reported the debate.

Rachael Thomas, the Conservative heritage critic who speaks for her party on heritage issues, said major harms are being caused to children, including by AI chatbots. She asked for details on how the bill would achieve its aims.

Canadian Identity Minister Marc Miller said in the same debate that a bill to combat harm online was long overdue, particularly to protect children.

The government introduced the legislation in June under the name the Safe Social Media Act. The bill would also set new safety requirements for social-media services and AI chatbot services. Politico reported that those requirements would apply to companies including Instagram, X and Snapchat, as well as to AI chatbots.

On chatbots, the bill would require conversational chatbots that mimic human-like relationships to act responsibly. Chatbot use would not face age restrictions. Companies would, however, have to put crisis-intervention protocols, or set procedures for responding, in place when a user expresses an intent to harm themselves or another person.

The bill is the Liberal government's third attempt to legislate on online harms, a term that covers content and conduct online that causes harm.