After months of deliberation, the federal government is reportedly planning to introduce a social media for youth later this week.
Citing government sources, The Globe and Mail and Global News are both reporting that the feds will implement such a ban for those under 16 as part of its wider online harms bill that will be introduced on Wednesday. This comes after Manitoba became the first province in Canada to announce a youth social media ban, while Ontario expressed a desire to crack down on tech use in schools.
Should Canada indeed move forward with the ban, it would follow Australia, which in December became the first country to enact such a law. Malaysia also rolled out a ban last week, while governments in the likes of the UK, South Korea and Spain have been looking into similar legislation.
However, it remains to be seen exactly how the ban will be implemented and enforced in Canada. In Australia, we’ve seen reports of kids easily circumventing age verification features, while research has found that it’s preventing youth from seeing the news. There are also longstanding concerns with providing biometric data for age verification, especially considering tech companies already have so much of our personal information.
Meanwhile, some experts have expressed scepticism that a ban would work in Canada, particularly Michael Geist, University of Ottawa law professor and one of the leading voices in Canadian law, technology and society. While acknowledging that social media is a “serious issue” for kids, Geist has argued that banning them from it outright could cause many issues, from failing to meaningfully hold tech companies accountable to raising various concerns related to Canadians’ rights, privacy and moderation.
Hopefully, we’ll get a better idea of all of this on Wednesday.
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