Ottawa introduces digital safety bill banning social media for kids under 16

The federal government is introducing legislation to enact the “Safe Social Media Act” which would force social media platforms to prevent children under 16 from accessing their service.

The Act is being proposed with the goal of making social media platforms and AI chatbots safer for kids.

Culture Minister Marc Miller announced the act on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

“This is unacceptable. We’re failing our children, enough is enough. Parents cannot face these challenges alone. The safety of children cannot be an afterthought,” Miller says.

If passed, the bill will be implemented in stages.

First, an age restriction will be enforced for certain social media platforms.

Then, the Digital Safety Commission of Canada will be formed. This is meant to be an independent regulatory body made up of federally appointed members.

The commission will be responsible for administering and enforcing the act in stages as well as assessing compliance and research.

READ MORE: Over two-thirds of Canadians support social media ban for kids under 16: poll

The government says social media platforms may obtain an exemption if the safeguards that are put into place are deemed successful and if the platform does not offer adult content.

The proposed bill would also regulate companies behind AI chatbots by imposing a duty to act on them through measures like crisis intervention protocols.

“The measures in this bill represent, in my view, the basic expectation of parents and Canadians for keeping their kids safe online. I believe all parties should agree on the importance of these minimum safeguards,” says Miller.

Mohit Rajhans, author and media consultant, says there’s going to be a lot to unpack in this bill including how the government plans to ID children to ensure they are of age.

“Kids are smart. They will work their way around whatever limitations you put in place, and I don’t think anyone ever realistically expected kids to simply say, ‘sure, we’re just going to spend the next few years in a digital cave.’ It just doesn’t work that way,” says Carmi Levy, a technology analyst.

The online harms bill, a similar proposal introduced in 2024, did not pass before the 2025 election.

Support for social media bans has been growing since Australia became the first country to put similar safety measures in place last December.

As a result, many other countries have been developing legislation to keep children safe online such as Britain, France, Denmark and Spain.

A recent online poll from Leger shows that more than two-thirds of Canadians support a social media ban for children under 16 but 60 per cent are skeptical that companies can actually enforce these rules effectively.

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