Canada has introduced a bill that would bar under-16s from social media and, in a twist that sets it apart from other countries, regulate AI chatbots in the same sweep.
The Digital Safety Act, tabled on Wednesday, is the latest move in a global wave of governments cracking down on platforms over harm to children. Canada’s version is broader than most.
It is not a blanket ban. Platforms can apply for an exemption if they prove they meet strong safety standards, an approach designed to push companies to redesign their services rather than simply lock children out.
‘The safety of children cannot be an afterthought,’ said Marc Miller, the minister of Canadian identity and culture, who is steering the bill for Mark Carney’s government.
Chatbots in the crosshairs
The bill’s most novel feature is that it treats AI chatbots as a child-safety problem in their own right. It would create a digital regulator to set safety standards for both social media and chatbot services.
Platforms would have to identify risks, build in age-appropriate design, and offer blocking and flagging tools, some of which they have started adding on their own, such as Meta’s global teen-account settings. The bill takes specific aim at the engagement machinery, algorithmic feeds, autoplay and endless scrolling, that the government says amplifies harm.
The chatbot focus is not abstract in Canada. The bill arrives weeks after families affected by one of the country’s worst mass shootings sued OpenAI, alleging the company knew from the attacker’s ChatGPT conversations that he was planning violence and failed to alert police. OpenAI has not been found liable, and the claims are unproven.
Non-compliance would be costly: up to 3 per cent of global revenue or C$10m, whichever is greater. Platforms would also have to remove non-consensual intimate images within 24 hours of a report.
Following Australia, but further
Australia became the first country to ban under-16s from social media in December, deactivating some 5 million teen accounts. Canada is explicitly trying to go further, regulating design and chatbots, not just access.
The catch is enforcement. Australia’s own regulator found that, despite the mass deactivations, about seven in ten children kept an account anyway, a reminder that writing the law is the easy part.
Canada’s bill, C-34, has a long road ahead. Officials say it could take a year to pass and another 18 months to stand up the regulator. France, Denmark, Poland and Greece are weighing similar limits, so the outcome will be watched well beyond Ottawa.
