Overview
- The federal government tabled Bill C‑34 this week proposing to block people under 16 from having social‑media accounts and to regulate AI chatbot services.
- The bill would set up a Digital Safety Commission with power to write rules, grant exemptions to platforms that show ‘adequate safeguards,’ and fine companies up to C$10 million or 3% of global revenue.
- Platforms must label AI‑generated material and harmful posts pushed by bot farms, and chatbot providers would face duties to reduce harmful outputs and implement crisis protocols.
- Critics and provincial officials praised the direction but warned the text punts many details — including how platforms will verify ages, whether AI must report violent threats to police, and what counts as ‘adequate safeguards’ — to rules the yet‑to‑exist regulator will make.
- Experts say the long timeline to build the regulator and gaps on verification and private messaging risk easy circumvention for teens and raise privacy trade‑offs, and the law includes a three‑year review to assess whether restrictions and exemptions are working.