Carney government to ban social media for kids younger than 16, but will allow exemptions

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government is expected to table its long-awaited legislation aimed at online safety this week, including a ban on social media platforms for minors.

A government official, speaking on the condition of background, confirmed plans to present a bill in the coming days, which will usher in a path to create a new regulator and target different types of harmful content online.

The official confirmed that the government’s plan to establish a social media ban for minors younger than 16 will include provisions that allow platforms to seek exemptions should they demonstrate an ability to keep the youngest Canadians safe while using their products online.

The bill is not expected to include the same type of ban for AI chatbots, but will establish a set of responsibilities platforms need to meet.

Carney’s government has faced calls from child safety advocates and children’s health organizations since taking office last year to revive efforts that were advanced under former prime minister Justin Trudeau to legislate tech platforms to tackle the harms users face.

The Trudeau government’s last bill, known as Bill C-63, died in Parliament in early 2025. Advocates and other proponents of tech regulation have argued that Canadian children are less protected than those living in the United Kingdom and Australia, which have their own online safety regimes and regulator.

Canadian Heritage Minister Marc Miller, who is tasked with shepherding the Carney government’s new efforts to legislate against online harms, had previously said the federal government was “very seriously” looking at the idea of banning social media for minors, a policy first introduced by Australia.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew has said his province wanted to do the same.

The tabling of the Carney government’s online safety bill comes just days after the prime minister and Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon released the government’s AI strategy, which underscored how Ottawa would spend millions of dollars helping encourage more mass adoption of the nascent technology and listed that tens of thousands of new jobs would be created in the field.

Opposition parties last week called that AI strategy short of details, including when it came to what safety measures and privacy protections the government would offer. The strategy did suggest that the Carney government would be moving ahead on measures to legislate around online safety.

More to come.

National Post

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