Child advocates rally for online harms bill to cover online gaming, AI chatbots

A group of children and parents say a safety plan against online threats that children face needs to become law as soon as possible.

On Parliament Hill Monday, advocates urged for progress over the federal government’s new version of the Online Harms Act, which intends to address AI chatbots, gaming platforms and social media.

Prime Minister Mark Carney and his cabinet is expected to apply an age restriction of at least 16-years-old to use social media, following the example of Australia and their new online laws.

Most recently, the province of Manitoba announced that an age ban will be put in place.

Advocates in Ottawa Monday, did not share their thoughts on an age restriction, but called for faster action on a broader plan.

“I think one thing that Canadians often forget is when Australia did that (social media age restriction) they made major headlines — they already had an Online Safety Act in place. Canada currently has nothing on the books,” said Sara Austin, the founder and CEO of Children First Canada. “So, we really need to start with the core elements of that duty of care, safety by design, and an independent regulator. To ensure the full scope of digital technology, not just social media.”

Austin was joined by other children and families, who say they all sat down with the prime minister and other officials, campaigning for a bill to be put in place.

WATCH MORE: Liberal party ‘seriously’ considering under-16 social media ban

She says in recent months, they’ve seen an escalation in the level of harm caused by the use of AI chatbots and believes lives could’ve been saved had OpenAI alerted law enforcement about the Tumbler Ridge shooter, after it revoked their ChatGPT account.

The liberal government previously introduced the Online Harms Bill C-63, but it did not become law before last year’s federal election was called.

Now, Culture Minister Marc Miller is taking the lead on a new bill and reconvened an expert group the government previously consulted with.

One policy expert shared with CHCH News his thoughts and advice to the federal government.

“I think the rationale of proposing laws like the Online Harms Act are they come from a good place, but I think the ways that governments have been going about this typically are technically fallible,” said Evan Light, a critical information policy studies professor at the University of Toronto. “Regulations for social media or just what social media is used for — can’t really work unless it happens at scale, through governments internationally being on the same page.”

Light says it will take a diligent, digital regulator in Canada and strong international partners to tackle challenges like the circumvention of age restrictions online and safeguarding children’s personal information that could be collected by third parties.

Advocates in Ottawa say cabinet members did not offer a specific timeline on the new bill, adding that it could potentially come as soon as this spring.

READ MORE: Federal Liberals back motion for under-16 social media ban