We have seen the dramatic consequences that online harms can have in our communities. The evidence is clear: online harms are intensifying. Children are especially at risks of online harm, from child sexual exploitation and cyberbullying to self-harm and mental health issues. Canadians, especially parents, are concerned about their children's safety online, and they cannot face these challenges alone. As a government, it is our duty to ensure that our laws keep pace with the digital era and provide a basic set of protections for children online.
Today, the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages, introduced Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act. While laws exist to respond once harm has happened, there is currently very little that requires online services to prevent harm in the first place. The Safe Social Media Act aims to change that by ensuring that social media services and artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots are responsible for addressing harm before it occurs.
The proposed legislation will make online services more accountable and transparent by introducing new safety requirements for social media services and AI chatbot services.
It will include an age restriction preventing children under the age of 16 from having accounts on social media services, with a pathway for social media services to seek an exemption if they can demonstrate that they have put in place sufficient safeguards for children.
The new requirements will also put children's safety first when products and features are designed, including measures to reduce children's exposure to certain content and high-risk interactions. Regulated services will be required to identify, mitigate and address the risks on their platforms.
The proposed legislation will create a legislative and regulatory framework through a new Digital Safety Act for social media services, including user-uploaded livestreaming and adult content services, and for certain AI chatbot services. The framework will operate through three core duties:
- The Duty to Protect Children will apply to all regulated services under the Act.
Social media services, including livestreaming and user-uploaded adult content services, will have two additional duties:
- The Duty to Act Responsibly will require services to assess and mitigate risks associated with exposure to seven categories of harmful content, apply labels to synthetically generated content, and provide clear and accessible ways for users to flag harmful content and block other users.
- The Duty to Make Certain Content Inaccessible will require the rapid removal of content that sexually victimizes a child or revictimizes a survivor; or intimate content communicated without consent, including deepfake sexual images.
AI chatbot services will also be subject to a Duty to Act Responsibly that is specifically tailored to their services. They will be required to:
- mitigate the risk of the chatbot communicating harmful content;
- be transparent in terms of their reporting thresholds in crisis situations, such as when a user intends to harm themselves or another person; and
- mitigate the risk that the chatbot will engage in harmful behaviour.
The proposed legislation will establish an independent Digital Safety Commission to enforce regulations, ensure compliance, make online services safer for children and support victims of online harms.
We all share a responsibility to protect children online. This new legislation will hold online services accountable and ensure they have basic protections in place to keep children safe online.
