Canada proposes ban on social media for children under 16

Canada’s federal government moved to redraw the boundaries of youth online life with a bill that would block children under 16 from opening social media accounts, unless a platform can win an exemption by proving it has enough safeguards in place. The proposal pairs that age rule with a new digital regulator, signaling that Ottawa is treating social media and AI chatbots as parts of the same safety problem.

Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act, would enact two new laws, the Digital Safety Act and the Digital Safety Commission of Canada Act. It would create an independent Digital Safety Commission of Canada to enforce the rules, make online services safer for children and support victims of online harms. The government also said the package would add safety requirements for AI chatbot services, not just social media, making this one of the most ambitious attempts yet to regulate youth-facing digital platforms in a single framework.

The practical challenge is enforcement. The bill would place the burden on platforms to verify age, show compliance and, in some cases, redesign how products work for younger users. That is where the proposal enters a real-world stress test: any serious age gate will have to decide what counts as proof, how much data companies can demand, and whether teens can route around the rules through false birthdays, borrowed identities or services that fail to comply. Ottawa says the exemption path is meant to target safety standards, not impose a permanent blanket ban, but that flexibility could also become a loophole if oversight is weak.

The politics are just as fraught. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government holds only a slim majority, Parliament is nearing summer recess, and officials have said the legislation could take about a year to pass and another 18 months to build and staff the regulator. Identity Minister Marc Miller cast the issue in stark terms, saying, “Kids are dying.” The framing underscores how aggressively the government is tying the bill to child safety rather than to broader culture-war fights over tech.

Canada is also moving inside a global wave of youth-tech crackdowns. Australia’s under-16 social media ban took effect on December 10, 2025, with an initial list that included Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Reddit, Threads, X and Kick. Australian officials said about 86 percent of children ages 8 to 15 were already on social media, a reminder of how deeply these platforms have seeped into childhood. France, Denmark, Poland, Greece and Malaysia are also pushing stricter controls, but Canada’s approach stands out for linking age limits, platform exemptions and AI chatbot oversight in one bill.