Overview
- The government presented the Digital Safety Bill in Parliament on Wednesday, proposing to prohibit people under 16 from opening social‑media accounts unless platforms secure federal exemptions.
- The bill would create a new Commission of Digital Safety of Canada to set and enforce rules for age verification, content controls and platform audits.
- Lawmakers would define seven harmful content categories such as self‑harm, incitement to violence and non‑consensual intimate images and require platforms to deploy filters and verification systems.
- The package adds requirements for AI chatbots to disclose how they flag crisis signals and to implement crisis‑intervention protocols after internal alerts in the February Tumbler Ridge attack raised legal and public concern.
- Officials say the law could take about a year to pass and roughly 18 more months to establish the regulator and operational rules, and platforms may seek exemptions or alter services as they adapt.