Canada Proposes Under-16 Social Media Ban Amid Global Push For Child Online Safety
Ottawa: Children younger than 16 will have no access to social meda accounts in Canada unless the companies prove that their platforms are safe for usage. A legislation was introduced on Wednesday that proposes the safety of children in view to join the growing global effort to tighten safety protections. Canadian government officials said they would be provided with exemptions if they regulate themselves in sufficient safeguard manners.
Marc Miller said,”We are failing our children. Enough is enough. We need basic protection in place.”
The legislation covers seven types of harmful content including content that induces children to harm themselves, content that incites violence and foments hatred and non-consensual intimate images.
A new regulator, the Digital Safety Commission of Canada, will be set up that might take up to 18 months. Criteria for what exemptions would look like will be announced at a later date. Miller said platforms will have to prove their safeness. Age verification will have to be established.
Moreover, countries such as Australia, Brazil and Indonesia have announced age-based restrictions for children’s access to social media. In the same line, other countries like Britain, France, Spain, Denmark,Thailand and South Korea are studying or developing similar approaches.
Platforms in Canada that offer adult content would not be able to obtain an exemption.
Even when companies rely on AI-powered chatbots, lawmakers still retain the authority to regulate them by enforcing obligations that require platforms to operate responsibly, including implementing crisis intervention measures.
In Australia, officials revealed that social media platforms have blocked nearly 4.7 million accounts suspected to belong to users under the age of 16 after the country introduced a ban on minors accessing such platforms. The legislation sparked widespread debate across Australia over issues related to technology usage, privacy, child protection and mental health, while also encouraging several other nations to explore comparable regulations.
During a media briefing, a Canadian government official stated that authorities in Canada are looking to draw insights and lessons from Australia’s approach.
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