Canada to propose under-16 social media ban in safety bill

Ottawa is preparing to table an online harms bill that would push Canadian platforms into new age-verification territory and force ministers to answer a harder question than the ban itself: how to police under-16 access without creating a surveillance regime or a loophole-ridden law. The proposed Digital Safety Act is expected to include a social media ban for children under 16, with possible exemptions for services that can meet safety standards.

Culture Minister Marc Miller is leading the file and has argued the bill is necessary because children are dying, underscoring how aggressively the federal government is framing the issue. But the policy fight is already shifting toward enforcement, legal responsibility and rights. If platforms are required to verify age, Ottawa will have to decide whether the burden falls on companies, parents or users themselves, and whether the system can be built without collecting more personal data from children and families.

The proposed ban would not be Canada’s first attempt to legislate online safety. The federal government introduced Bill C-63, the Online Harms Act, on February 26, 2024. That bill would have created a Digital Safety Commission of Canada and a Digital Safety Ombudsperson of Canada, but it died on the Order Paper in January 2025 when Parliament was dissolved. The new proposal signals that the government is reviving the issue with sharper political stakes and a narrower focus on young users.

The timing also places Canada inside a fast-moving international test case. Australia’s social media minimum age rules took effect on December 10, 2025, requiring age-restricted platforms to take reasonable steps to stop Australians under 16 from creating or keeping accounts. Australian officials say the rules are meant to protect young people from harmful and addictive features and to give them more time to develop emotional, social and digital skills. Ottawa will be watching closely for the practical problems that follow, including false age claims, account migration and whether a platform can comply without overcollecting identity data.

The Canadian government is also broadening its tech-safety agenda beyond social media. On June 4, 2026, Prime Minister Mark Carney launched Canada’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy: AI for All, which says the government will modernize privacy and online-safety laws and strengthen national AI safety capabilities. That makes the coming bill more than a child-protection measure. It is a test of whether Canada can build a durable framework for platform accountability, privacy protection and youth safety at the same time, and other Western governments will study whether it works.