Canada introduced legislation that would bar children younger than 16 from having social media accounts unless platforms obtain an exemption by showing they have put in place sufficient safeguards.
The bill targets seven types of harmful content, would create the Digital Safety Commission of Canada to oversee compliance, requires age verification, excludes platforms that offer adult content from exemption, and would impose a duty on companies behind artificial-intelligence chatbots to act responsibly through measures such as crisis-intervention protocols.
“We are failing our children. Enough is enough,” Marc Miller, Canada’s culture minister, said.
Marc Miller said setting up the new regulator could take up to 18 months and that criteria for exemptions will be announced later.
A Canadian government official told journalists the authorities intend to study Australia’s experience and learn lessons from its implementation.
The legislation arrives amid a wave of similar moves overseas, Australia, Brazil and Indonesia have introduced or announced age-based restrictions, while Britain, France, Spain, Denmark, Thailand and South Korea are studying or developing similar approaches, and Australia has revoked access to about 4.7 million accounts it identified as belonging to children.
Lianna McDonald, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, praised the proposal, saying sextortion on social media has increased dramatically.
