What does Bill C-34 do?
Bill C-34 is Canada’s latest attempt to create new rules for social media platforms, AI chatbots, and other online services.1,2 At its core, the bill recognizes an important principle: large technology companies should be responsible for the foreseeable risks created by the systems they design and profit from. But much has changed since Canada’s last attempt in 2024. The new bill includes proposals that make sense, like some basic safeguards for AI chatbots, and others that do not—like demanding proof of your age to access much of the Internet.3,4,5 Great new powers require great responsibility and Bill C-34 needs important changes to get the balance right!
What are we asking for?
We want Canada to make platforms safer by expanding our rights and our online choices, not kicking younger users from online spaces, or forcing all of us to verify our age for basic online services.6,7,8,9 We’re fighting for a version of online safety rules that address the systems that create or amplify illegal harm, while protecting and respecting people’s rights. We are calling on the government to:
- Strengthen the independence of the Digital Safety Commission, ensuring its powers are used to advance online safety alone, not misused by the government in power;
- Replace the proposed under-16 social media ban with safety-by-design requirements that protect young people’s accounts while keeping them connected to their communities;
- Don’t age-gate the Internet. Unnecessary age verification and identity checks or ordinary services will create new privacy risks for all of us. Any age-verification measures included in Bill C-34 should be limited to commercial websites where the intentional distribution of adult content is their business;
- Carefully study its new AI chatbot rules to ensure they protect safety, privacy, and freedom of expression;
- Give Parliament the time it needs to hear from experts and make meaningful improvements.
Why isn’t banning teenagers from social media the right solution?
Because whether you like the idea or not, it doesn’t work.10,11,12 Evidence about whether social media bans work is still developing, but more and more early findings from Australia suggest 70-80% of young people are still accessing platforms despite the supposed ban.13 Teenagers being teenagers, most young people rebel; in fact, when Australian teens turn 16, they’re now using social media more than ever before since the ban.14
That’s why many of those with the most experience of what children want and need do not support a ban. In fact, after the introduction of the Safe Social Media Act (Bill C-34), Unicef Canada highlighted a duty to consult young people and requested an in-depth child rights impact assessment.15
Additionally, Bill C-34’s proposed under-16 social media ban may face constitutional challenges because it restricts freedom of expression, creates significant privacy risks through age verification, and takes effect before the safeguards needed to justify these restrictions are in place.16
We can listen to young people and still improve their online safety. Instead of excluding young people and taking away their access to online communities and support, Canada should require platforms to build safer environments by default!
Will age verification make the Internet safer?
No – and it may break privacy for all Internet users.17,18 There is still no age verification technology that is proven privacy protective, and there are scores of vendors selling sketchy solutions that may capture or leak our online identity and online activities.19 Canadians need strong safeguards against unnecessary identification, tracking, and data collection. While technologies that may genuinely protect privacy are slowly emerging, until they’re proven safe, age verification should not become a requirement for accessing everyday online spaces, and should be narrowly targeted where it is truly necessary.
What about AI chatbots—should they be included?
Probably, but the details matter a lot! AI is changing how people interact online and creating new challenges around safety, privacy, and accountability. Bill C-34’s inclusion of AI chatbots recognizes these risks, but as the newest and least studied part of the Bill, these rules need careful study. Many Canadians understandably worry about AI chatbots having unreported knowledge of a future Tumbler Ridge incident. But millions of Canadians are also having extraordinarily sensitive conversations with chatbots every day– and these must also be protected. Requirements involving chatbot conversations and reporting must be clearly defined, and balanced with privacy and free expression rights!
Why does the Digital Safety Commission need independence and safeguards?
Bill C-34 creates a new Digital Safety Commission with significant powers. Strong oversight is important to stand up to the world’s largest tech companies; but the powers that come with that need to be clearly defined and firewalled from misuse by this government, or any future one.20 Other bodies with significant powers who make decisions that could affect Canadian rights, like the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) or CRTC, are given extensive independence in their founding legislation. The mandate of Bill C-34’s new regulator is as or more important and sensitive as these other bodies; its independence should be just as carefully guarded by Bill C-34’s text.
Why does your voice matter now?
This fall, Bill C-34 will be referred to the House of Commons parliamentary committee; that will be the best time to study the issues Bill C-34 raises, and pass constructive amendments that reduce its risks, and maximize its potential benefits. The decisions made during that parliamentary review will determine how Canadians experience online spaces for years to come.
If enough of us speak up now, we can push MPs to strengthen the bill, protect young people in ways that actually work, and ensure online safety rules respect our privacy and freedoms. Canada does not have to choose between safety and rights. We can build an Internet that protects both. Tell our government today: hold platforms accountable without banning or surveilling users!