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Did You Know? Legal Topics for Secondary Students –Social Media Ban – Part 1: The Proposed Legislation

Have you heard about the proposed social media ban? Wondering what will happen to your social media accounts? If there will be exceptions? Or how to voice your concerns to law makers?

In this three-part series, we consider the proposed legislation for the federal social media ban, the role of media literacy in education as a tool to support critical thinking for secondary youths in online forums and media sites, and avenues for youth to advocate for legislative change where they disagree with proposed legislation.

On June 10, 2026, the Government of Canada introduced Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act, which would enact two new Acts: The Digital Safety and the Digital Safety Commission Act. This proposed legislation will include an age-restriction for children under 16 and require media services to include safety requirements to reduce youth’s exposure to certain harms and high-risk interactions. Through the proposed Digital Safety Act, a legislative framework will operate via 3 core duties – the Duty to Protect Children, the Duty to Act Responsibly, the Duty to Make Certain Content Inaccessible.

The proposed Act is intended to target 7 different types of harms:

• Intimate content communicated without consent
• Content that sexually victimizes a child or revictimizes a survivor
• Content that induces a child to harm themselves
• Content use to bully a child
• Content that foments hatred
• Content that incites violence
• Terrorism or violent extremism content

Did You Know……

• Minimum age for social media accounts will be 16 years old however exemptions may be granted to a social media service if they have established and maintained sufficient safeguards for youth – this may allow for youth under 16 to have social media accounts on these platforms
• Under the proposed legislation, there will now be federal protection for those whose intimate images have been posted without consent, including deepfake images
• AI chatbots must adhere to the Duty to Act Responsibly. These services must mitigate the risk of the chatbot communicating harmful content, be transparent about reporting thresholds in crisis situations, and mitigate the risk that the chatbot will engage in harmful behaviour.

K-12 Teacher Resources:

Government of Canada – News Release: Introduction of legislation to make social media services safer for children: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/news/2026/06/government-of-canada-introduces-legislation-to-make-social-media-services-and-ai-chatbots-safer-for-children.html

Government of Canada – Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/safe-social-media-act.html

Media Smarts – Privacy Rights of Children and Teens: https://mediasmarts.ca/teacher-resources/privacy-rights-children-teens