Canada Ready to Ban Social Media for Minors Under 16: Platforms and AI Chatbots Targeted by New Law

Canada introduced Bill C-34, dubbed the Safe Social Media Act, on June 10, 2026: a bill that prohibits minors under 16 from owning accounts on social media platforms and introduces specific safety requirements for artificial intelligence chatbots. The measure was introduced by Marc Miller, Canadian Minister of Identity and Culture.

With this move, Ottawa joins Australia, Indonesia, and Malaysia, which in previous months have adopted similar measures setting the same age threshold of 16 years. Currently, Germany and Spain are evaluating the introduction of similar laws.

Obligations for Platforms

The core of the measure is the ban on those under 16 from creating or maintaining accounts on social media services. Bill C-34 imposes broader obligations on platforms: they must design products that are inherently safer for children, remove deepfakes and content that sexually exploits minors, label synthetically generated content, and provide users with blocking and reporting tools.

The law covers seven categories of harmful content: sexual exploitation of minors, self-harm, cyberbullying, incitement to violence, hate speech, terrorism, and non-consensual intimate content. For each, platforms have distinct obligations for removal and prevention.

AI Chatbots and Digital Safety Commission

Artificial intelligence chatbots fall within the scope of the Safe Social Media Act with differentiated treatment compared to social media. Excluded from the age limit, they must implement measures to reduce the risk of communicating harmful content and ensure transparency in reporting thresholds in crisis situations, with explicit attention to cases of self-harm.

To ensure the enforcement of the new rules, the Digital Safety Commission of Canada is established, an independent commission with oversight and intervention powers towards both social platforms and AI services.

The details of the measure are available on the official page of the Safe Social Media Act. Bill C-34 is now at the beginning of its parliamentary process.