Canada Introduces Landmark Bill Banning Social Media for Children Under 16
OTTAWA — June 10, 2026 — The Canadian government introduced legislation on Wednesday, June 10, that would ban children under the age of 16 from having social media accounts, marking one of the most significant regulatory moves by a Western nation to address online harms and protect youth mental health.
The Safe Social Media Act, tabled by Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Marc Miller, would establish a new regulatory framework requiring social media platforms to prevent minors from creating accounts while imposing sweeping safety obligations on tech companies and AI chatbot providers .
Apple Announces AI-Powered Siri Overhaul, Unveils Dedicated Assistant App at WWDC 2026 | Blue Origin’s New Glenn Rocket Explodes During Florida Engine Test, Suffering ‘Catastrophic’ Setback.
The bill represents the Liberal government’s latest attempt to regulate online spaces after a previous online harms bill died when Parliament was prorogued ahead of the 2025 election .
Bill Proposes Under-16 Minimum Age With Exemption Pathway
The legislation would set the minimum age for social media account creation at 16 years, restricting access for minors to platforms such as Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat, and other services defined as facilitating “interprovincial or international online communication among users” through content sharing .
However, the bill includes a mechanism for platforms to seek exemptions from the age restriction if they can demonstrate that they have implemented “sufficient safeguards” to protect children, according to government documents . Officials briefing reporters indicated that such safeguards would be defined through future regulations .
The ban would apply to children under 16 immediately upon royal assent of the bill, though the establishment of the enforcement body is expected to take up to 18 months . The government’s AI for All strategy, released last week, had signaled the forthcoming legislation addressing chatbot safety .
Digital Safety Commission to Enforce Compliance With Significant Fines
The bill establishes an independent Digital Safety Commission that would oversee compliance, conduct audits, issue compliance orders, and hear complaints from Canadians alleging violations of the law .
The commission would have authority to impose substantial financial penalties on non-compliant companies. Fines would be set at either three percent of a company’s global revenue or $10 million, whichever is greater, with companies facing multiple penalties for repeated violations .
Three Core Duties Imposed on Platforms
The Safe Social Media Act creates a legislative framework with three core duties :
The Future of Science & Technology: AI, Space, Biotechnology & Digital Transformation Explained.
The Duty to Protect Children applies to all regulated services, requiring them to prioritize child safety in product and feature design, including measures to reduce children’s exposure to certain content and high-risk interactions .
The Duty to Act Responsibly applies to social media services, including livestreaming and user-uploaded adult content services. This duty requires platforms to:
- Assess and mitigate risks associated with exposure to seven categories of harmful content
- Apply labels to synthetically generated content
- Provide clear and accessible ways for users to flag harmful content and block other users
The Duty to Make Certain Content Inaccessible requires rapid removal of content that sexually victimizes a child or revictimizes a survivor, as well as intimate content communicated without consent, including deepfake sexual images .
AI Chatbots Face Additional Regulations
The legislation also imposes a specially tailored Duty to Act Responsibly on AI chatbot services. Under this framework, chatbot providers must mitigate the risk of chatbots communicating harmful content, maintain transparency regarding reporting thresholds in crisis situations when users express intentions to harm themselves or others, and reduce the risk of chatbots engaging in harmful behavior .
Notably, the bill would not ban children under 16 from using chatbots, but would impose safety requirements on those services .
Seven Categories of Harmful Content Targeted
The legislation specifically identifies seven categories of harmful content that social media services must address :
- Content that sexually victimizes a child or revictimizes a survivor
- Intimate content communicated without consent
- Content that induces a child to self-harm
- Content used to bully a child
- Content that foments hatred
- Content that incites violence
- Terrorism or violent extremism content
Minister Cites Urgent Need: ‘Kids Are Dying’
Speaking ahead of the bill’s introduction, Miller did not mince words about the government’s motivation.
“I think it’s obvious why it’s a priority. Kids are dying,” Miller told reporters on his way into a cabinet meeting Tuesday .
Justice Minister Sean Fraser said the government’s motivation is to “ensure that we are being responsible when it comes to protecting kids in particular” .
Government House leader Steven MacKinnon said the new online safety legislation is a priority for the government, noting that “there’s a great realization in society that there are negative effects from social media use, maybe particularly among our youth” .
Age Verification and Privacy Concerns Emerge
The bill’s enforcement mechanism has drawn significant concern from privacy experts and civil liberties advocates who warn that age verification requirements could have unintended consequences for all Canadians.
Michael Karanicolas, a professor at Dalhousie University’s Schulich School of Law, told a public policy panel at Dalhousie University that any age verification system would introduce “a significant additional layer of digital surveillance and data collection” affecting all Canadians, not just children .
“There is a common perception out there that these platforms already know everything about us. That’s not actually true,” Karanicolas said .
Toby Mendel, an expert on freedom of expression, predicted during the panel that the legislation would likely face a constitutional challenge. He noted that the bill would almost certainly violate Canadian children’s right to freedom of expression, protected under section two of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms .
“The legal question will be whether the goal of child protection justifies the limitation of rights,” Mendel said, noting that Australia—the pioneer of the under-16 ban—”is one of a very small number of countries around the world which does not have a Bill of Rights in its constitution” .
Renee Black, founder and CEO of GoodBot, which advocates for digital safety, warned that regardless of legislative intent, it is not within the Canadian federal government’s authority to determine how non-Canadian companies handle collected data.
“What those companies do with the data that they collect and its processes is unknown, unregulated,” Black said .
Mixed Reactions From Youth and Parents
Teens in London, Ontario, expressed mixed views on the proposed ban. Keirah Buckley, a student at Beal Secondary School who uses Instagram regularly, questioned whether an outright ban is the right solution.
“I come from a generation of kids where social media was the only way of communicating during COVID and that’s how I actually made friends. I don’t know if the answer would necessarily be to ban social media altogether,” Buckley said .
Instead, Buckley suggested companies should be tasked with curating algorithms designed for connection rather than the current environment she described as “this crazy consumerist and violent place where you can see almost everything” .
Grade 9 student Sophia Xiong said the idea “sounds great in theory” but expressed concern that a ban might prevent children from learning to recognize online dangers. She suggested a model similar to YouTube Kids, with active regulation .
Jamieson Roberts, a father of two children aged seven and 10, expressed concern about privacy implications.
“It sounds like a fantastic idea to regulate and not have kids on social media. But the reality is that it’s going to open up so much of the digital landscape where it’s already hard to not fork over data,” Roberts said. “It’s the equivalent of a digital privacy Trojan Horse” .
Emma Duerden, the Canada Research Chair for Neuroscience and Learning Disorders at Western University, said there has been an “overwhelmingly positive” response from parents regarding social media restrictions and that the legislation would shift the burden of monitoring from parents to platforms .
“There’s too many risks at play currently in the online world,” Duerden said. “I think a lot of parents feel they really need to have help beyond just the everyday day-to-day checking their teens’ phone” .
Australia as Precedent
The Canadian bill follows Australia’s implementation of a similar under-16 social media ban in December 2025, the first such nationwide restriction. Australia’s ban applies to platforms including TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, X, Facebook, and Instagram .
However, privacy advocates note significant differences in the legal environments of the two countries. Unlike Canada, Australia lacks a constitutional bill of rights, which may influence how courts evaluate potential Charter challenges to the Canadian legislation .
Implementation Timeline
The bill must pass both houses of Parliament before becoming law. Miller indicated that the social media ban for children would come into effect upon royal assent, though establishing the Digital Safety Commission and its regulatory framework could take up to 18 months .
The legislation represents a revival of the government’s 2024 online harms bill, Bill C-63, which died on the order paper when Parliament was prorogued ahead of the 2025 election . Miller acknowledged that previous iterations of the legislation were an “overreach,” noting that “there were, in my mind, legitimate criticisms about inserting criminal repercussions into the previous legislation” .
Continuing Legislative Process
As of June 10, the bill had been introduced and referred for parliamentary consideration. The government has not yet announced a timeline for committee hearings or further debate. Industry stakeholders, privacy advocates, and civil liberties groups are expected to provide input as the legislative process moves forward.
SOURCES/ INPUTS
- NOW Toronto: Will Liberals ban social media for kids under 16?
- CBC: How would Canada’s plan to keep kids off social media work?
Pakistan Fully Repays $3.45 Billion Loan to UAE as Saudi Support Averts Crisis.
Africa CDC and WHO Launch $518 Million Continental Ebola Response Plan | WHO Chief Travels to Congo as Ebola Outbreak Worsens, Risk Raised to ‘Very High’.
